Persona - Compendium
by DevinePhoenix
Summary: Awoken at the Dawn of the Dark Hour Minato had always known of his shadows. For ten years, Demonic energies flowed through his body. A cruel attempt on his life at the age of ten left him in possession of his Compendium. As he enters Iwatodai he may not be aware of the impending Apocalypse but he isn't going to role over and die either!
1. The One Who Walks Among Monsters

**This was a random idea I had of what would've happened if Minato was _perfectly_ aware of the Dark Hour and his gift/curse.**

**I don't own Persona.**

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_**Persona 3**_

_**Tale of the Demonic Compendium**_

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_Demonic/Persona Compendium- A seemingly harmless book that stores Personas that are not in use/summoned at the moment. records the spiritual level, strengths, weaknesses, skills and arcane of the Persona as well as the card that the creature resides in. Only accessible to Summoners (See summoners). _

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It was an ethereal night. No. More like an ethereal nightmare.

There was no way it could be comforting or serene to any normal person. The sheer depravity and twisted nature of the bloodstained night could shatter a lesser man's sanity with a glance.

Blood stained the streets, pooling on the side walk in grotesque puddles. A sickly green glow lit up the surroundings giving it a haunting and eerie look. The near full moon hung forbiddingly in the sky casting fearsome shadows onto coffins. Twisted shadows roiled in the heavy darkness-

- glimpses of yellow eyes flashing.

Impossible shapes of monsters born straight out of any nightmare lurked in the darkness. Faint growls echoed across the city at intervals. This indeed was a macabre setting.

It would take a certain kind of person to walk among this blood spattered and twisted world without surrendering to the monsters.

A person with a certain kind of..._potential_, you might say.

A blue haired boy walked unconcerned among the towering coffins in the street. There was no hurry in his motions or even fear at the strange and otherworldly surroundings. He walked slouched and relaxed, as if going on a sunday stroll. The shadows fled before him. Pools of blood that thickened the air with a heavy iron smell, were habitually avoided with ease. He didn't even need to pay attention to where he put his feet.

This was a person who walked among monsters.

Despite the relaxation, the boy remained perfectly balanced on the balls of his feet, easily able to spring into action at the slightest hint of hostilities. He moved lightly, like a dancer, with a smooth and predatory gait. This was one that was not unfamiliar with violence.

His dark school uniform was rumpled due to his very long train trip but he didn't seem very concerned about it. A well worn pair of silver headphones covered his ears, playing his favourite song, _Burn my Dread_. A slight breeze ruffled his bangs that normally blocked his right eye. A duffel bag was slung easily over his shoulder but it had nothing on the large book clasped in one of his hands.

A rather thick old tome, It looked as though it could be classified as a weapon simply due to its massive weight. Not that he would dare to use it as such, it simply meant too much to him for him to dirty with blood.

The cover was a modest brown, perhaps one could mistake it for a large dictionary if it were not for the aura it gave off. It radiated immense power, saturating the air and warning off the monsters of the night. It was held, almost lovingly, close to his chest.

The other hand held a rather mundane sheet of directions. To the new dorm he would be living in for the next year, to be precise.

_Gekkoukan High, huh..._

He eyed the large doom building with unease. Only four floors, thank goodness. He didn't think he could deal with any more people living in close quaters. Even four entire floors of people might be pushing it. Hopefully the dorm had empty rooms or he'd go insane and kill somebody.

Just to be clear, he didn't particularly like people.

He was a loner, plain and simple. Content with his own independence, he didn't really like to reach out with others. Combined with his frequent moving, it made for a decidedly friendless childhood. Not that he'd ever needed any _human_ friends...

With a suffering sigh he adjusted his grip on his bag and stared at the steps. He was ridiculously tired and it had nothing to do with his current surroundings. Traveling for nearly twelve hours left him in a near state of collapse that hadn't been apparent in his movements. With another groan he realized that the dorm members wouldn't be awake and he'd have to wait for the night to return to normal before getting a room. Silently, he mustered energy to pull himself up the stairs and shove open the door.

The lobby was dark, also lit by the green glow that he knew so well. The bluenette surveyed his surroundings with approval. It was a rather well off setting with tasteful and expensive furniture and decorations. To his great relief he noted that there were no coffins in the Lobby. There would be no need to hatch together a pack of lies to cover his sudden appearance at the hour's end.

"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you."

The young man turned around to face the desk, not even jumping in surprise at the suddenness of the voice. The new tenant let out another sigh before dropping his bags with a dull thud. The appearance of a strange child in prison clothes now smiling behind the reception desk didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. In fact, from his yawn, he seemed to be more concerned with finding a bed to sleep in. Dual otherworldly blue eyes met unshakable silver.

"Sure you have Pharos." the boy responded easily, trying to blink away his weariness.

Pharos pouted. "You were taking forever to walk here, Minato."

The student, now labeled Minato, just shrugged noncommittally.

"Now if you want to proceed, please sign your name there. It's a contract. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff. "

Minato shuffled closer to the desk to stare at the deceptive single slip of paper. A single line to seal his fate. He nearly snorted at the contract before him.

"A Velvet Room Contract? How redundant..."

After a few minutes of digging in pockets while Pharos watched in amusement, he managed to procure a pen. With another scan of the sentence to make sure he wasn't selling his soul to the devil, he signed _Minato Arisato_ as neat as he could manage on the dotted line. Which is to say, it was polite chicken scratch.

Pharos smiled cryptically. "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes."

He picked up the contract and closed the binder. Turning it to the side, it vanished from from his grip. Once again Minato hardly seemed fazed by the sudden disappearance of the contract. He did tilt his head briefly to acknowledge the boy however. The simple motion caused the boy's slightly creepy grin to evolve into a full fledged beaming smile.

"And so it begins."

Cheerfully saying his farewell with an ominous statement, the boy faded away into the shadows leaving no trace of his existence. For the first time since arriving Minato showed a sliver of emotion in a fond smile twitching his lips.

"Always the dramatic one, aren't you?"

He shuffled back to his bags to drag them over to the couch. With no residents around he planned on crashing for the night on the extremely comfortable looking couch. In his state he was willing to sleep on the floor. Suddenly his plans for sleep were once again shattered when a voice broke the night's silence.

"Who's there?!"

Minato whirled with an irritated growl, his book snapping open and an almost feral gleam appearing in his eyes. That was the second interruption that night and he was beginning to get annoyed. While he might tolerate it from Pharos, someone else was another matter. A girl in a pink sweater was standing on the stairs looking scared out of her wits at his quick reaction. The young man's eyes narrowed briefly, sizing her up.

She looked around his age, with short brown hair and pretty brown eyes. The gun on her thigh looked incredibly out of place on her. She had the air of a popular gossip girl, not a fighter. This was further enforced by the extremely short skirt and stylish pink jacket.

_Persona user? Hmm...only freshly awakened..._

With a dismissive snort he snapped his tome shut and relaxed. As much as he was annoyed at another interrupter of his plans to collapse into a puddle and sleep for four days, he might get an actual bed now.

The girl spluttered some nonsense before reaching for her evoker. Just to be sure, even though it was unlikely she could even pull the trigger, he quickly switched to a wind resistant Persona. Being cautious had saved his life before and he wasn't going to stop now. Before she could do anything a voice called out.

"Takeba, Wait!"

and the Dark Hour vanished.

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**Its just an idea but I've done other chapters.**

**Right now its not in chronological order but I will post if I get a favourable response.**


	2. Arrival at the Dorm

**Wow. I've never had so many reveiws in my life. I have decided to continue the story and will appreciate any ideas and opinions given and consider all. :)**

**Sorry for the short chapter but I just need to ask for a ****beta. It would be appreciated since I'm proofreading by myself which is hard. DX**  


******Please tell me if anybody is interested!**

**I don't own Persona 3...But I own this Minato! Mine! MINE!**

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_Summoner- One who can summon Personas from a Compendium __directly without being related to the Persona_. The residents of the Velvet Room are a good example, all of them are Summoners or 'blank' cards (See Blank Cards) as well as not being human.

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A stunning redhead walked down the stairs with a regal swagger. With gorgeous curled locks and an imperial gaze she gave a friendly smile to the newcomer. A set of bangs fell stylishly across one of her eyes in a similar manner to his own.

Minato gave her a searching glance probing slightly with his own skills. She was powerful. A subtle hint of danger lay interlaced with the formidable frosty aura of her Persona.

He mentally made a note to never cross her.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

"...Who's he?" The brunette asked cautiously, still fingering her gun.

"He's a transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boys' dorm."

"This isn't a girl's dorm is it?" He asked hesitantly. That would be very...unpleasant.

Mitsuru shook her head in amusement. "No. It's a Co-ed dorm. There is another male senior staying here as well."

"...Sempai, Is it really okay for him to be here?" The still unnamed brunette uneasily asked.

The senior raked her gaze over the new student. "We'll see...oh yes, This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a Junior this spring, just like you."

"...Hey." With an obvious distrustful aura the girl in the Pink sweater continued to eye him with doubt.

With total deadpan he bobbed his head in acknowledgment. "Minato Arisato."

Seeing the itchy trigger finger girl looking decidedly uncomfortable he almost smiled. Deciding to see if they were quick on their feet, he shoved his hands back in his pockets. Rocking back on his heels to reduce his constant battle ready posture, he nearly smirked. He let himself slouch and allowed tiredness to bleed through his mask. Time to play the clueless and harmless civilian.

"Nice gun."

"Um, well..." She was flailing for something to say. It was mildly entertaining.

"Its not real." Mitsuru interjected, gesturing to her own holster on her hip. "You know how it is these days. Its for self defense."

He nodded in approval of the quick thinking and confident aura. If he hadn't known their true purpose he might have believed her. Definitely someone to be cautious of. Spotting a flaw in her reason he voiced it without fear, intrigued at what her reaction would be. Yukari was utterly forgotten, his threat radar barely registering her.

He stared at the guns letting a sliver of doubt appear on his mask. "Wouldn't it just be better to learn self defense or martial arts?"

A sliver of approval and intrigue flitted across her schooled features. "It is a lot simpler to just carry a deterrent. However, our other dormmate, Akihiko Sanada, is a formidable boxer and fighter. Both of us have trained in offensive sports."

He hummed, nodding his head at the information. The swaying on his feet wasn't entirely faked at the moment. He was dead tired. The little fishing he was doing for information was draining his energy even more. Noticing his exhaustion Mitsuru took pity on him.

"It's getting late, so you should get some rest. Your room is on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there."

He could barely comprehend the directions and stayed staring at her. The red head's tone became faintly concerned.

"Are you alright?"

"I...don't think I could find my room in the state I'm in..." He admitted ruefully.

With a silent command by the Upperclassman, his new classmate piped up. "Oh, I guess I'll show you to your room then. Follow me."

Noting her disgruntled tone he silently picked up his bag and began to follow her. She seemed like the type to anger over the littlest thing. She was too weak to be a threat to someone like himself but given time, she could truly be a terror. If she wasn't already one to normal people.

Ignoring the obnoxious little voice that had started to pop up commenting on how stunning both girls were, he obediently followed her up the stairs. Making her way to the room at the end of the corridor she gestured to the door.

"This is it...Its at the end of the hall so it'd be pretty hard to forget." She chuckled awkwardly. "Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it... So, any questions?"

"Can you tell me the general rules in the morning? I won't remember anything now."

"Huh." She eyed him calculatedly. He wouldn't remember anything, huh?

Perfectly aware of her calculated gaze, he shifted to yawn. Being half asleep could not get rid of his habit of probing for information.

"Um...Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." He sighed.

"What?" Deciding to ignore it, she continued speaking. "On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

"No, there were coffins and blood in the streets." He deadpanned. Utterly useless, she knew nothing. She was only trying to probe him for information. He nearly scoffed at her poor attempt.

She seemed shell shocked by his words but that was the effect he was going for. She would most likely run to report to her sempai about his response. He met her startled gaze and smiled grimly.

_The ball is in your court._

"I must've been tired. Goodnight Takeba-san."

He instantly slammed the door on her face. Resting his head against the door, he listened. Several minutes later, rapid footsteps raced away from his door. A tiny smirk graced his face. A cursory glance confirmed his belongings were boxed neatly in a pile and untouched. The bag slipped from his fingers to land with a dull thud on the ground.

Deciding that he was really tired, he eyed the pillow with happiness. Wasting no time he flung himself on the the bed and was passed out before his head hit the pillow.

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**I thank you all for so much support! :)**

**I have exams but I've already started typing the next chapter! I'll try to get out a longer chapter in a week or two!**


	3. First Day of Hell

**Right, the first day of school!**

**For all you Hamuko/Minako/ FemMC fans, I've decided to add her in. She'll show up under the name 'Hamuko' (so I won't confuse her with Minato.)  
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**Ideas for pairings are welcome. Just don't expect a Minato X Yukari one because I'm not too fond of her and I don't think my version of Minato would get along with her. As shown by the first part of the chapter.  
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**Enjoy!**

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_Blank Card- The owner has no Persona or Mask. A rarer condition than it sounds. Not to be confused with a Wild Card. All the Blank Cards are not human and are uniquely suited to be Summoners as they have no Persona of their own to get in the way of using a Wild Card's stored Personas (See the Sybiosis of Summoners and Wild Cards)._

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4/7/09

"Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you like it!"

The still slightly unsteady boy kneaded his forehead. "Takeba-san, Its a SCHOOL. I hate them on principle."

Getting to sleep after midnight and then being woken up at six in the morning had done nothing for Minato's characteristic sarcasm. There were few things that the generally uncaring boy valued; Sleep, food and his precious book. Long before, his family had been somewhere on that list but that had been before the tragedy.

This girl had managed to deprive him of SLEEP, chase him out of the dorm WITHOUT BREAKFAST and had tried to get him to leave his Tome home.

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….

Needless to say, Yukari was not Minato's most favourite person at the moment.

And to add to his sulk, she wore a loud pink sweater (Which he was nearly sure was against school rules). He hated pink. On a good day it was tolerable. Today was not a good day in any sense of the word. She had obliviously ignored the dark glares and muttering of death threats on the whole walk and train ride to the school.

She was either very indifferent or very oblivious...

Enthusiasm deflating slightly at the sarcasm, she just continued to the shoe lockers. Before she could speak he quickly spoke up. His quiet voice betrayed none of the annoyance he had towards her. A quick shuffle in his head killed all the emotions instantly.

"I'll be fine from here."

His head was swinging, taking in all the sights with a cautious air. With an utterly emotionless face he shifted his bag and nodded in thanks.

"Faculty office?"

She pointed to her left and he nodded again. He left her there, drawing up his shields the instant he stepped away. A mask of utter indifference and poise quickly fixing on his face. Drawing himself up, yet somehow remaining slouched he slipped through the crowd easily. The faculty office was in plain sight now that he knew where it was.

Drifting past the French boy and...teacher...wearing a very impressive samurai helmet, he knocked politely on the door and entered the Faculty office.

The day was so utterly boring and forgettable that he slept through most of it. From the moment that Principle started to drone the MP3 was instantly playing a soothing tune. Blocking out the speeches with ease he slipped into the grasp of his old friend Morpheus.

Assembly? Slept.

Class? Slept.

Lunch? He nearly slept through that too. He promptly went and bought out the cafeteria's entire supply of melon bread to the poor lady's shock. And half the school's too.

Class again? SLEPT.

Automatically, he shifted awake at the sound of dozens of students packing up and chattering. Totally unconcerned by the fact he slept through the entire day, he began to gather up his belongings.

He had no books to put away as he had not taken them out in the first place. Blinking down at his desk he came to the slightly embarrassing conclusion that he had fallen asleep on his precious tome. With a sigh he reached for his book bag and slung it over his shoulder. About to properly get up to leave, he was stopped by a shadow falling over his desk.

"S'up, dude? How's it goin'?"

He stared at the scruffy hat wearing boy, assessing him. He looked to be a laid back person but Minato could feel the roiling of a Persona near to the surface of the boy's consciousness. Not quite manifested but nearly. He thought about the boy's question and answered in his usual deadpan.

"Good."

"Heh," He looked at Minato oddly for a second before becoming exuberant to introduce himself. "I'm Junpei Iori. I got transferred here in eighth grade. I know what its like to be the new kid so I wanted to say 'hey'!...See what a nice guy I am!"

Minato almost smiled at the characteristic behaviour of a Magician. Keyword, Almost. A corner of his mouth twitched though. Then Yukari entered the classroom and he had to instantly shuffle to prevent himself from getting annoyed again.

"Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."

Minato let out a slight snigger at the nickname. Junpei didn't seem like the type to know about geography so he wouldn't notice the unintentional geographical joke at the nickname.

She sighed "At it again, huh? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen. Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"

"What? But I was just bein' friendly."

"Its no big deal Takeba-san. Iori-san was just being polite."

Another strange look was thrown his way. "Dude, just call me Junpei."

He bobbed his head in acceptance. "Okay Junpei-kun."

"Drop the 'kun' too!"

"Alright then, Junpei. You probably heard but I'm Minato Arisato."

"Alright Minato, You can be my new best friend!"

The generally stoic teenager looked at his new self appointed best friend in amusement. This was new. This Magician had something different about him.

"Why not?" He shrugged, a smile breaking across his face.

"Woah!" Junpei grinned. "I got you to smile!"

Instantly, his face sobered but the amusement still remained glinting in his mercury gaze. The Magician could still tell the other boy was greatly amused. He didn't know why he had felt to approach the transfer student but he was glad he did.

_But still,_ He thought, _Why does he feel so...different?_

The blue haired enigma had coolly walked to school with Yukari, slept through all the classes and had eaten out the cafeteria of Melon bread. In a single day he had impacted the school greater than anybody could've guessed.

"Did you forget I was here?!" Yukari snapped, sounding highly affronted.

"My apologies Takeba-san but why _did_ you come over here?"

"I just wanted to say that it was nice we ended up in the same class!"

"Maybe it's Fate."

Junpei would've laughed if not for the serious look in the other boy's eyes as he stared down at the huge book before him.

Yukari just scoffed. "Fate? Yeah, right. I'm still a little surprised."

Junpei suddenly grinned evilly. "By the way, I heard you two came to school together this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt!"

Minato leaned back and watched the other girl splutter with great amusement.

"Wh-What are you talking about!? We live in the same dorm. There's nothing going on, okay? Why are people even talking about it!? Now you have me worried... Hey... You didn't say anything to anyone about.. you know what, did you?"

He fixed her with a mildly amused gaze, rocking back in his seat. "I don't believe I know what you're talking about."

"Don't tell me you forgot already!" She growled in annoyance.

"Forgot what?" He grinned innocently.

"Seriously... Don't say anything about last night, alright?" She reminded fiercely.

A devilish smirk cracking his facade caused her to rethink her statement. She turned to watch Junpei looking at her in mock horror.

"W-what?" She nervously stuttered. Junpei was staring at her like she was a ghost and the new kid was widely smirking.

"L-Last night...?"

"W-Wait a minute! Don't get the wrong idea! Listen! I just met him yesterday, and there's absolutely nothing between us! Geez... I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team. But, you better not start any rumors!"

The extremely flustered girl fled the room posthaste to Junpei's mad chortling and Minato's scary grin.

"Ah, who cares? No one takes rumors seriously, anyway. She's so paranoid... But, hey! It's your first day here, and people are already talkin' about you! Believe it or not, she's actually pretty popular. You da man! Heheh, this is gonna be a fun year. I can feel it!"

Minato shot a withering look at the door. "She's popular? How?"

"Ouch," Junpei winced. "What'd she do to you?"

"Wake me up a six in the morning after arriving past midnight, make me leave without breakfast and had the AUDACITY to tell me to leave my Co- *cough* book." He delivered in straight deadpan.

"Dude, I've been meaning to ask that. What IS that thing? It isn't a text book."

"Ah. This was a very dear gift to me from someone very close to me. I carry it everywhere."

"Man, its a book! A heavy one at that!" Junpei wildly gestured. "Why WOULD you carry it around?"

"The one who gave me it is dead."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"-Know? It's quite alright, It was years ago." His pain was masked as easy as breathing.

"Oh...er...so, um, what's it about?" Junpei stumbled trying to break the awkward silence.

Minato smiled. "Tarot cards."

"What-?"

"For example."

For the first time ever, Minato showed his Compendium to a human. Flipping opened the well worn pages to a spot near the front of the book he pointed to the tarot labeled one.

"That's you."

Junpei leaned closer over the book, getting interested.

He started to read aloud. "Magician Arcana. Associated with action, initiative, self-confidence, manipulation and power. Woah, I sound cool!"

Minato just grinned and tapped the bottom of the page.

"Fatal flaw of arrogance – hey!"

With a bark of laughter, Minato ducked under Junpei's arm and swiped up his bag and tome. Cackling insanely he raced out of the classroom with Junpei hot on his heels and yelling pointless insults.

It felt good to have a friend.

_CRACK!_

_Your acceptance of this Magician's friendship has awoken a new Social Link._

_Thou shalt be blessed when summoning Personas of the Magician Arcana._

_Magician Social Link Rank 1_

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**And the first of the story Social Links start. He does have a few Max links, (around four) but that is it. All his other friendships were never completed and they faded as he moved away.  
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**Ideas for Social Links are also appreciated.  
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**Don't be mistaken. He'd be powerful. But just not all powerful and will have weaknesses and weak moments.  
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**Thanks for Reading! :)**


	4. Return to the Velvet Room

**Extra long chapter to make up for the time! ^_^**

**Don't expect another one for a couple weeks, I'm leaving civilization to go on vacation soon.  
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**Some of his past gets revealed!  
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**I will have a special request at the end of the chapter for the readers so please read it.**

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_The Symbiosis of Summoners and Wild Cards- As you have no doubt noticed. Summoners and Wild Cards are reliant on each other. Wild Cards collect Personas for themselves and the Summoners to use that is store in the Compendium. The Wild Cards cannot access the Compendium and need the Summoners to do so. And since the Summoners have no Persona, they need a Wild Card to collect Personas for them to use. The Summoner of the partnership always holds the Compendium.  
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4/8/09

After a full night's sleep, Minato was feeling slightly more charitable but there was no way he was walking to school with the girl that ruined his yesterday. Junpei had been very helpful the day before, giving him an impromptu tour of Port Island and the surrounding area. He enjoyed it, despite himself. Junpei was bright, lively and resembled Ryoji in his flirty nature. It was great entertainment to watch him get shot down continuously by girls.

Perhaps later he could allow Ryoji out to join in on the game. In the back of his mind Ryoji had cracked up at his fellow skirt-chaser's failed attempts and making his own lines. At the end of it several of the residents in his head were groaning at the absolute cheesiness of his pick up lines. Minato could honestly say he had more fun on that single outing then he had experienced in the past ten years of his life.

It was odd.

Perhaps the call of binding to someone with a Persona was the main factor. Eventually Junpei would awaken to his world and he would have less to hide from him. It was nothing like his other Social Links. This felt it could last.

His journey to school was short and mostly spent listening to music on his MP3 and ignoring the world. Walking straight past the girls gossiping at the front gate, he noticed something strange.

A rather large number of girls appeared to be eagerly awaiting someone. He remembered those kinds of looks from his last school. Fangirls. He felt sorry for whoever their victim was. Carefully stepping around the hoard he quickly began to move into the school building, It would not do for them to notice him.

Thankfully, he made it to the door before he heard the squeal of.

"Akihiko-sama~!"

Minato only caught a flash of silver hair before the poor boy, whoever he was, was mugged by his zealous followers. He stopped and stared at the mob before bowing his head.

"Poor guy."

Thankful he no longer had to deal with fangirl mobs in a school where no one knew him yet, he continued on towards his class.

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After saving Junpei's bacon during Composition, even though he had been sleeping, the day once more was dull. He hoped the dullness wouldn't continue otherwise he'd go nuts! The lack of anything to do was annoying! He was now actually considering going hunting in that creepy tower he saw appear the first night.

With a sigh he pushed open the door to the dorm.

And froze.

Sitting harmlessly next to Yukari on the lobby couch was a familiar face. Brown hair, glasses and a generic brown suit...It could be no one else. Minato instantly shuffled his mind to kill all emotion. Despite that, on the inside he was seething as well as several parts of him.

"Oh, he's back." Yukari smiled.

"So, this is our new guest..."

Just listening to the man talk made him feel to take a bath. Everything about the corrupted scientist made him feel dirty and so...unclean. Now the question was, would he recognize Minato? He had changed from the accident seven years ago but was it enough?

The two stood from their seats and the man started to talk.

"Good evening. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki."

Minato relaxed a small amount. The generic greeting confirmed it. He didn't recognize the boy whose life he had destroyed.

"I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school. "Ikutsuki"...Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes...Please, have a seat."

"There's no need." Minato said coolly. "I have no questions about my situation. It is...nice to meet you but I have homework to do."

"Wow!" The man smiled, Minato crushed the urge to kill him. "Another studious one?"

Minato merely shrugged and began to make his way towards the stairs.

"Well, You must be tired from all the excitement. You should go to bed early. As they say, "The early bird catches the bookworm!" ...Please forgive the bad pun."

Minato kept his face completely blank as he walked up the stairs. A direct contrast to the deep roiling hatred that was all in favour of storming back down the stairs and gutting the man with a spoon. Entertaining images of such a feat managed to calm him down rather well.

What assignments he had were lazily accomplished with surprising speed. He had a nervous feeling of being watched and kept glancing around as he put his books away. With Ikutsuki's comment earlier he knew that he might be being watched. They wanted him to sleep. Probably to discover if he was aware of the Dark Hour.

Still feeling odd he knew he couldn't wait, even if someone was watching. They'd just have to deal. Plus, he enjoyed confusing his watchers with his very odd actions.

With a quick sleight of hand, his ever present pack of tarot cards shot out of his sleeve into his hand. These cards weren't anything special just normal tarot cards bought in a store. Tarot cards worked differently for him than normal people. With ties to all the Arcana, even regular cards were bound to tell him his fate. It had gotten to be quite useful in Igor's absence.

Comfortably settling down on his bed, he shuffled the pack absently. The motions were nearly automatic. He dealt the cards quickly into one of his mentor's favourite patterns onto the bed sheet. Eying the hexagonal pattern, he flipped the first card.

He eyed the Tower with amusement. Disaster. He knew that already. The second card revealed a familiar skull. Death.

His face split into a wide grin. His old pal.

Sobering, he began to think of the implications of the card. Regeneration and rebirth. Deep change. Something very serious was afoot and he was right in the middle of it.

He smirked. He wouldn't have it any other way.

X

* * *

X

Yukari sighed as she shifted in her seat.

"When is he going to sleep?!"

For the past hours she had been treated to much of her enigmatic classmate's behaviour. None of it made sense. Whipping out a pack of cards, the camera could only tell that the cards weren't playing cards, and setting them out in a specific pattern. Flipping a few and studying the results. Swiping up the cards and reshuffling them. The pack then seemed to vanish from sight.

Taking off his jacket and tie and rolling up his pants legs he began to stretch and limber up. He performed the oddest training sequence she had ever seen, shadowboxing in an odd manner. At the end of the session he left to bathe and came back in a loose pair of pajamas.

He sat cross legged on his bed, facing the camera. Taking that odd book of his onto his lap he closed his eyes. Mitsuru claimed he was most likely meditating. That, she could understand. But he had been sitting like that for THREE WHOLE HOURS.

All without twitching or moving an inch.

As Dark Hour struck the three observers eagerly leaned over the monitors. He didn't even open his eyes. He wasn't a coffin. Even as they watched, half way through Dark Hour he seemed to come back to himself. He stood up and gave his surroundings a brief glance. To the trio's surprise he was largely unconcerned by the scenery changes.

He made as if to flop onto his bed in a more comfortable position. Then he paused. Turning his head directly to the camera, he gave them a totally blank gaze, dead eyes drilling into their souls.

He raised his arm up and... gave them the finger.

Mission accomplished, he dropped on his bed like a sack of potatoes and curled around his tome. Every single person in the Control room stared at the feed in total shock. Shakily, Yukari asked the one question that was on all three's lips.

"H-how...?"

X

* * *

X

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man."

As soon as his eyes were opened he caught a flash of blue before he was tackled off his chair.

"Mina-chan!"

"E-Elizabeth?"

Clinging to his body was the unmistakable form of the Velvet Room attendant he had met so long ago. With her distinctive blue dress and golden hair it would be hard to mistake her for someone other than her siblings. In that case, Theo would never tackle someone and Margret would be too refined to do such a thing. In that case it could only be the incredibly childish attendant of the velvet room.

"Now, now Elizabeth, Please treat our guest with more decorum." The old long nosed man chided gently.

She hastily released him and straightened her clothes. "Ah...Forgive me."

Minato waved it off, getting up and sitting back down on the chair with a smile. "Igor, Its nice to see you again old man."

"Likewise." The man chuckled in that creepy way of his.

"Um..." Minato began, looking around the elevator. "Where is...?"

"Unfortunately, everyone else is off on business right now." Elizabeth smiled. "So I have you all to myself! Do not worry though, you will see them soon."

Letting out a breath he relaxed. "It's fine. Its nice to be back here."

He let his gaze travel around the new Velvet Room. An elevator...? How strange. It must mean something about his journey. If there was one thing he liked, it was the colour of the room. The entire place was decked in his favourite blue.

Noticing something strange, he looked down at his own clothes and raised an eyebrow. Somehow, he was no longer in pajamas. He now wore a familiar ensemble.

"I see you've been keeping my armour here."

The coat didn't even look to be armour but it was inlaid with the best protective Persona spells possible. Forged by the residents of the Velvet room for their current wild card, they had all insisted on making him a blue coat. Accompanying the protective coat was his top rank fighting gloves. He had made them himself, fusing a tough chariot Persona into the weapon with assistance from Theo.

They didn't look very impressive at all. Made of a dark leather with only slight metal studs on the knuckles, it just looked like an expensive glove. Minato liked them that way. They were very inconspicuous even if they weren't as strong as the other weapons he owned.

"What happened to my Armoury?"

Igor grinned and waved his hand. With the simple motion, an enormous pile of objects materialized to the side. Minato sat. And stared.

The pile covered nearly half of the room. It didn't mean any of it was valuable, considering the sixty or so Imitation Katanas he owned, but it was a lot. His encounters with Shadows over the years had given him _this_ much loot?!

He gleefully rubbed his hands together. He'd never be without cash again after he sold the more outdated stuff to a weapons dealer! A giggle from Elizabeth and a chuckle from Igor made him realize, with great embarrassment, that he was drooling over his own collection.

"Ah. Apologies. You know my fascination with sharp objects of mass destruction." He leaned back, with a last wistful glance at the pile of weaponry.

Elizabeth went into another fit of giggles. Igor sighed and shook his head in exasperation.

"It appears that Thanatos's fondness for weaponry has passed on to you." He commented.

"Thou art I and I art thou, and all that stuff."

Igor cackled. "And all that stuff indeed!"

Shifting into a more businesslike pose in his chair, Minato gave them a last fond smile before clapping his hands to draw their attention.

"Right, as fun as seeing you guys again was, what have I been called here for?"

The two sobered themselves into a more serious mindset quickly. With a sigh, Igor waved a hand. The contract Minato had signed appeared on the table.

_I Choose this fate of mine own free will_

_Minato Arisato_

Igor nodded. "You have signed the contract. I only ask the usual, For you accept full responsibilities for your actions. There is no need for another explanation after last time, I take it?"

The Fool shook his head. "No need. I did notice that I got a contract this time, what's that about?"

Both entities shifted uncomfortably. Igor shot his assistant several warning glances. Finally Elizabeth decided to speak.

"This time is different. You will have to find out how on your own power. This isn't just about survival like last time."

He nodded and held out his book which miraculously traveled with him to this space between dream and reality. Instantly the mood lightened and the blond attendant snatched the book from his hands. Surprisingly, Minato made no move to protest.

"I see it's looking quite good." Elizabeth praised, flipping through the pages. "But your social links need some work. You've had too many low powered ones which have faded."

She fixed him in a stern glare. "This contract requires greater power than you have now to fulfill it. You NEED to work harder and form some more unbreakable bonds. The ones forged with us in the Velvet Room is not enough."

Minato bowed his head against her harsh rebuke. Great, she just told the anti-social to make friends. Just great. This was not going to be a good year for him, was it?

"If you are in need of fusing Personas do not hesitate to ask." Elizabeth continued.

She grinned. "There will be a 'fee' of course."

He deadpanned. "You don't need to bribe me to get me to take you outside you know..."

A being that supposedly ruled over power jumped up and down in excitement like a little girl. "Yay!"

Minato just smiled softly. Evidently, this kind of behaviour was the norm.

"I think that will be all for now." Igor smiled in that partially grandfatherly and partially creepy way of his. "I will reinstall the key into your Compendium..."

Curiously, he accepted the strange glowing key from the old man. Elizabeth handed back his tome with a friendly smile. With a bright flash, the key flew straight into the book. Minato stared down at the now, slightly glowing book.

"'Til we meet again..."

X

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**So it seems Ikutsuki is responsible for the incident seven years ago...**

**Plus Minato is an old friend of the Velvet Room's attendants?  
**

**X  
**

**Right, What I want to say to all my readers is that I know all of you have had ideas for a Persona story of your own at one point or another. Whatever you wanted to fix or add to you own 'story' but neither had the time or patience to do yourself (that is, write your own story with it), I want to know.  
**

**I know the feeling and would not mind letting people live out some of their dream plotlines and stories through mine.  
**

**X  
**

**Aside from that, please review and tell me what you think!**


	5. First Full Moon

**Here you go! But don't expect another one for a while, I have school to focus on. I may be able to post a few more chapters though. I think I'll try to post every month or so, to give me time to write between school.**

**X  
**

**Full moon fight this chapter, so enjoy!  
**

**X**

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X

_The Velvet Room Pact-__The Velvet Room Pact was made to make the Summoner/Wild Card Partnership easier to accomplish without the Wild Cards having to search for a Summoner to help manage their Personas. A Wild Card without a Summoner either leads to a weak Wild Card (one that knows how to dismiss the Personas that show up) or one with severe psyche strain (One that doesn't know how to dismiss and eventually dies because they collect more Personas than their head limit allows). The Pact allows all Wild Cards access to the Velvet Room Which holds the only Summoners, Igor, Elizabeth, Theodore and Margret. Eg Elizabeth's Wild Card was Minato originally. (See Minato's circumstances)  
_

X

4/9/09

Minato got up normally, with a giant yawn. Morning routine was done in a zombie-like manner, he barely remembered a thing that happened while he got dressed. Suddenly, as he picked up his Tome on the way to the door, the thing gave him a slight shock. Suddenly fully conscious, he glanced around the room in confusion.

Realizing he had done everything on auto pilot again, he stared down at the book. The he remembered his dream. Then he smiled.

\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /

\/ \/ \/ \/ \/

At the school gate, he met his new best friend who was energetically bouncing up and down.

"What's up!? Man, today is the perfect day! The sky is blue... We're young... What more could we ask for!?"

"Some quiet?" Minato grinned back.

"Psh, quiet is overrated! When you have hot-blooded awesomeness you need nothing else!"

Minato blinked and stopped. "Did you just say something vaguely epic sounding?"

"Of course!"

Junpei leaned closer in a conspiring manner. "Dude, listen to this... Oh, wait! I'm not supposed to say anything! Whoops! Sorry, man."

"Eh." Minato waved his hand flippantly. "Doesn't matter."

Chatting and teasing each other, the two teenagers entered the high school. To them, It was a normal day, full of annoying classes and homework. Both loners reveled in the new found bond and enjoyed each others joking company.

They were not aware of the looming danger that night would bring.

X

X

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X

_**FULL MOON NIGHT**_

_**X**_

Three people sat in the command room, staring at the screen. Mitsuru merely sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"I figured he'd do that..."

They were all staring at the camera feed to Minato's room. Or lack thereof. The entire screen was engulfed in static.

"Interesting..." Ikutsuki muttered.

Yukari stared at the screen in disbelief. "But how? How'd he even find it?"

Disturbingly enough, Mitsuru was smiling in appreciation. "He's sharp. We might as well bring him up now and talk to him. From his attitude so far, he probably knows everything already."

"We don't have enough data..." Ikutsuki whined.

"And we're not going to be getting more." Mitsuru gestured with much amusement. "So why not?"

Abruptly, a sharp beeping cut off their argument.

Dismissing the matter for now, Mitsuru swept down to answer the call.

"Command Room...Is that you Akihiko?"

X

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* * *

X

X

Minato woke with a start. One of the twelve Personas in his head, his fondest, Thanatos was raising an unholy ruckus. Instead of directly explaining, Thanatos hijacked his Summoner's body. Pulling on a set of protective armour (his second-best set, his Velvet Room set hadn't been brought through a physical Door yet), the Persona began to explain.

_**A big one's abroad, from what I can tell it's bigger than anything we've fought before!**_

The ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana was practically giddy with excitement. Thanatos was a simple Persona, with simple tastes. Weaponry, explosions, destruction, sarcasm...Does this sound like anybody we know?

As Igor rightly said, having a set selection of Personas in his head and having Thanatos on default had not done good things to his sanity.

Finally relinquishing hold on his body, Minato stood in the Dark Hour gloom looking deceptively harmless. He second-best pair of armour had easily fit under his school uniform. All his bladed implements had been stored in the Velvet Room. None of the attendants had gotten to teach him how to summon directly from the Room the last time he was there. Despite that crippling disability, he wasn't too worried.

There was one sword that would _always _answer his call.

A ruckus was beginning downstairs. His true prey, however, was approaching from the outside. Coming to a quick conclusion, he opened his door and slunk out of his room. He looked it behind him to give him a few more minutes and raced for the stairs. Confirming the presence of all the dorm downstairs, Minato began to run UP the stairs.

_Orpheus, how much energy do I have?_

The ever taciturn Persona quickly gave him a report. _**You have sufficient energy to manifest Thanatos for two bursts of seven seconds, or enough to summon him once for three seconds and have enough to augment your body and full summon around twenty weaker Personas for elemental spells.**_

_Thanatos?_

A sigh.

_**Despite my eagerness to do battle with this opponent, It will do no good to entice your illness by burning you out. Even if it is the Dark Hour. Save me as a trump card. Use **__**Hades**__** instead.**_

Minato closed the door to the roof and walked to the edge. His harsh breathing quickly evened out. He was fit, but those stairs were _evil_. Leaning over the edge, he looked down to the front door. An eyeless blue mask stared back at him and froze.

Dozens of haphazard arms sprouted everywhere on the thing, all an inky black colour. Even as he watched, smaller shadows were gathering. Several slipped around to the back door and four remained to squeeze through the front door.

"I see." He mused. "The weaker shadows are drawn to the stronger shadows."

He frowned grimly. "Following that theory, that makes me a greater shadow. But the shadows I normally attract always try to kill me. Back to drawing board for that one."

The Large Magician class leapt, latching onto the side of the building with it many arms. Using anything it could find it began to haul itself up the building side with remarkable speed.

"Pity." Minato sighed.

He jumped fearlessly onto the railing of the roof, staring at the creature coming vertically at him. Raising up a hand as if to grasp something, he smiled pleasantly down at the shadow. Framed in the Dark Hour's unholy full moon, he looked like a forbidding specter of death to the approaching monster below.

There was only one thing he had ever been able to summon besides a Persona.

"Thanatos, lend me your sword."

_**Roger!**_

He pulled _Hades_ straight from nothingness. A relatively simple construct, the bone white katana never less gave off a forbidding aura of death. As soon as he felt the hilt in his palm, his arm snapped downward.

Death's blade screamed towards the shadow's mask. Noticing it a bit too late, it still managed to tilt its mask to avoid being pierced. This did not stop the sword burying to its hilt in the thing's main body however. With an unearthly scream, It toppled from the side of the building.

Standing on the ledge of the roof with nothing to support himself, he let himself lean forward, intent on free falling to the ground. A scream behind him caused him to turn slightly as he was about to kick off. Standing by the roof door was Yukari, looking utterly horrified.

With nothing left to hide, Minato let a slightly deranged grin spread across his face. Then he kicked off from the roof. Turning back to the ground, the pissed off Magician pulled out a set of wickedly sharp knives. He had to visibly force back the squee-ing weapons collector side of him, namely Thanatos. Holding out a palm before himself, Minato quietly switched Persona and crushed a glowing blue card.

"Angel, Garu."

As the blue glass shards condensed to form the white form of an angel, a protective wind wrapped around his form. Decent safely slowed by the magical green wind, he no longer was in danger of going splat. He made a sharp gesture with his hand.

With no hesitation whatsoever, Angel flung her Summoner away and vanished. It had the added bonus of sending him catapulting away from the building therefore away from the shadow. Still slightly cushioned by the wind, he neatly landed upright on top an unsuspecting car.

As soon as he landed, the monster rushed. With a thought, _Hades_ was back in his hand. As a second thought, he flung away his Compendium, the book shattering into blue shards the moment it hit the would only get in the way in such close combat.

With a battle cry, Minato sprang off of his perch, swinging the katana down with both hands on the shadow. A pair of knives crossed to block. The other arms shot forward to decapitate him while his sword was occupied. Planting a foot on the shadow's mask he kicked off of the impromptu foothold, catapulting himself back into the air to dodge the flashing steel.

Wild laughter ripped from his throat as he raised his hand up to cast another set of spells. Persona magic was surging in his veins with intoxicating power. He supposed it must be what drug addicts feel like. It didn't matter.

_This_, was what he was meant for.

"Zio!"

Lightning crackled around the shadow, causing it to spasm slightly. Seeing how little it affected it, Minato scowled. He made several quick gestures as he landed on the cracked pavement, Quick casting to find a weakness.

"Bufu! Garu! Agi!"

The first two loped off several limbs but the flames regenerated about half of them to his dismay. The Shadow surged forward with a screech, knives waving dangerously.

"Crap!"

Minato backpedaled, swinging his sword in carefully controlled strikes to block the swift strikes raining down on him. Clangs of steel rang through the green night. Miraculously, he had managed to avoid being injured for the whole exchange. Though that was more due to his slash resistant Personas then his actual skill. This shadow was ridiculously strong, like nothing he'd ever faced before.

Using a car as a springboard, Minato launched himself back up in the air. He threw out a hand in a desperate slashing movement to shatter another card.

"Physical enhancement!"

A package of enhancement spells slammed into him full force as he fell towards his foe. Strength and speed doubled as the blue fire raced through his veins.

"_**CHEEEEEEEEESTOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

Accidentally missing the Magician's mask yet again, he cleaved the entire being in two. The two piles of limbs dropped on either side of him as he landed. He grinned madly as he surveyed his handiwork.

"I always wanted to say that."

Without warning, one of the hands lashed out with a knife, digging deeply into his hand. With a roar of pain, Minato brought his sword crashing down on the shadow's newly forming mask. Seeing a glow from the corner of his eye, he turned. Swirling to life inches from his face was a blue fireball held in the hands of the original half.

"Oh Biscuits."

He brought his left arm to shield his face just in time. The Agilao imploded with an impressive explosion of flames which he collected at point blank range. Sent flying, he smashed into the car behind him, utterly totaling it. The flames ignited several trees along the sidewalk, adding to the plumes of smoke rising off of the trashed car.

Standing on the top of the stairs, Mitsuru jerked into action. The smaller shadows had been easily dispatched before Yukari's panicked transmission reached her. Following the sounds of battle to outside she opened the door to meet the sight of the suspected Persona User cleaving the huge armed shadow in two.

But right now her kohai was hurt and she wasn't going to let another death happen on her watch. His form was hidden from smoke and flame of the car but he obviously wasn't going to be in good shape, even if he had resistance to fire.

Recalling his lack of Evoker she cursed. He wouldn't be able to summon, even if he was capable. As she charged, one of Akihiko's Zio spells lanced past her to electrocute the shadow. To her worry it only jerked slightly under the shock before whirling...

...To meet the end of her rapier.

The hands were annoyingly quick but could not stop the quick pierce. She yanked the blade out quickly. Silver gun was fired towards her head with battlefield efficiency. Ice imploded around the monster, lacerating its form and scratching its mask.

Groaning, Minato picked his carcass up and stumbled away from the flaming wreck of car. Looking down at his battered body, he sighed. He had been going fine right up until that moment and he wasn't too pleased about his new battle injuries.

His right arm sported a bone deep slash courtesy the first attack. His left no longer had a sleeve and was burnt painfully all the way up to his shoulder. Not that he could tell. Raising his left arm up to his face, he noted with detached amusement that _this is supposed to hurt. _

Wreathed in smoke, he walked forward towards his prey's roars. The sight of Mitsuru dueling the thing with back up from a silver haired boy was a bit of a surprise. The boy looked vaguely familiar. Minato sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

_**Three Persona users are watching...**_ Orpheus informed him. _**Are you sure?**_

He lazily cracked an eyelid. The battle had ground to a halt. Mitsuru was staring at Minato with something close to shock several feet away from the shadow. The silver haired man was nursing his ribs in the lull, warily shifting gaze from the Shadow to Minato. Yukari's signal remained on the rooftop. Despite the seniors' closer proximity to the shadow, It now ignored them completely.

Closing his eyes again he murmured. "Come Compendium."

Blue shards gathered to form a brown covered thick book which hovered in the air before him. Mitsuru started.

"That's-"

Now sensing danger, the Magician charged. Mitsuru swiftly drew her evoker, pressing it to her head. Without any hesitation, she pulled the trigger again.

"Penthesilea, Bufu!"

Ice sprang around the shadow's limbs, buying Minato more time. Eyes still closed he nodded his thanks. He took a deep breath, the book flipping to a certain page on its own. Charred left arm rose stiffly until it was on the level of the book. His eyes snapped open, fixing the trapped Magician with an unforgiving mercury glare.

"_**THANATOS.**__**"**_ He intoned.

Blue energy gathered around him, greater than anything he had used previously. A matrix of swirling blue power and broken shards. He could feel his strength draining. A slow constriction of his chest was the only thing informing him he was reaching his limit.

The world shattered.

A monstrous being rose up from his summoner's shadow. A long coat flapped in an ethereal breeze. Necklace of ornate coffins clattered in the air behind him almost like wings. A bony white, almost birdlike, helmet sat on his head with two empty eye sockets.

To everyone it was a monstrosity, but to Minato it was his soul.

Painfully aware of the time limit, Thanatos lunged forward even as Minato doubled over coughing. The shadow never had a chance. Thanatos was almost frantic. His regular rage went out the window and he shot forward with surgical precision. _Hades_ appeared in its true owner's hand and easily loped off a few of the shadow's limbs. The thing screeched, trying to run away with its remaining hands.

The embodiment of death held onto the sludge like mass of the shadow and cleaved the being in two with a final swipe. The blue mask was neatly bisected.

"Shatter!" Minato yelled.

Eyeless sockets snapped around to meet pained silver. To his horror, his Summoner was clutching his chest. Every single Persona Minato possessed knew the signs, Thanatos better than most. With a nod, the huge Persona began to dismiss.

Edges starting to fade, it suddenly jerked with a howl. Minato could feel it too. A surge of foreign yet familiar energy was pulsing from the carcass. Blue energy swarmed from the shadow's body. Without warning the energy suddenly shot forward like an arrow.

Thanatos bodily threw itself in between the bullet but he had faded too far. The energy punched a hole through his body causing him to fully shatter. With a muffled swear, Minato tried to resummon any Persona to protect himself.

"Orph-Gugh!"

The blue bullet collided with the center of his chest. Pain flared through his chest. He staggered, an expression of pure shock on his face. He was hit, and it _hurt?_ Dropping to his knees he clutched his chest, searching to put pressure on the injury. Bringing a hand up, he was surprised to find no blood.

_Wha-? What did it-GAH!_

Abandoning his chest he clutched his head and howled in pain. His Personas raged in his head as his entire selection shuffled and expanded and morphed painfully. The constriction on his chest squeezed uncomfortably. Before he knew what was happening, rough coughs were forcing their way out of his mouth. Blood trickled down his lips as he braced himself against the spasms.

Vaguely, he head someone frantically trying to heal him. He cracked open an eye, staring unsteadily at the sidewalk before him.

"Enough of this!" He growled, using up the rest of his air in a defiant shout. "NOT AGAIN!"

He dizzily slammed his burnt hand palm first into what appeared to be air. Another shattering of shards later, his Compendium rested against his palm. As soon as he made contact with the book, it began to glow. Visible blue energy raced down his limbs, cracking like electricity to loosen the band around his chest. He took several deep gulps of air to stop the world from spinning. After a few seconds he let out a relieved sigh.

The mental pain gradually faded as the book systematically compartmentalized each Persona to stop their essences from mixing. The glow died down, returning the book to its brown colour.

_**Let's never do that again.**_ Orpheus deadpanned.

_**Agreed, as much as I like fighting, I can't do it if you're dead. Minato are you alright?**_

_Dunno. How bad's the internal damage?_

There was a moment of silence as Orpheus, the Persona in charge of organizing and analysis, did his job. The usual tingle of energy raced through his body.

_**Thanatos.**_ Orpheus said, utterly emotionless like Minato himself was like on default.

_**What?**_

_**Please knock Master Minato out.**_

Minato stared blankly at the book for a few seconds. Orpheus just called him Master. Orpheus only did that when things were bad. He raised his gaze to Mitsuru's shocked red orbs, just as Thanatos mentally hit him.

Wordlessly, he crumpled to the ground. His prized book followed him seconds later, the book clattering harmlessly to the ground inches from his charred fingertips before it shattered into blue shards again.

Mitsuru knelt by his body, quickly checking his pulse. With her other hand, she fired her Evoker twice. As healing light began to envelop his body, she turned to call her other injured companion.

"Akihiko get over here!"

X

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**X**

**I tried to lengthen the fight a bit, to make it more interesting. Please review to tell me what you think!**

**Minato uses lower ranked Personas and spells because they simply don't strain him as much so he could save his strength for summoning Thanatos. But by now, even those 'weaker' Personas have quite a kick to them.  
**

**The Minato in my story is not going to be a physical powerhouse. That's Shinji's job. No really, I think of him more as a Mage (specifically, the kind that throws around great firepower with ease). His defense consists of rapidly switching resistant Personas to cancel out attacks. However, If he doesn't see them coming, or is attack with multiply elements at once, he's screwed.  
**

**Plus, as you can see when he summons Thanatos, there is something wrong with him physically. Thanatos is the only one that would cause him such strain because he is:  
**

**A) Ridiculously powerful  
**

**B) Not a Persona, but more like a demon. He's the actual thing, not a mirror that a Persona is  
**

**and C) After such a long time, he is very firmly entrenched in Minato's soul. Minato can't dismiss him from his head at all.**


	6. The Week Which Was Spent Unconscious

**I apologize for taking so long but I'm in the middle of mock exams. I'm currently not supposed to be on the computer but I figured I was overdue and decided to post something.**

**I get to introduce a long awaited character!**

**Enjoy!**

**X **

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_X_

_Minato's Circumstances- Minato was a simply a Wild Card that awoke earlier than his journey. So he had no Summoner and didn't know how to dismiss. So he overloaded. The pressure got too much. He was only ten. He decided to take Suppressant pills which would eventually kill him anyway. Several months passed, nearly a year. Then Elizabeth saw what happened by a chance when she passed by. She gave him the Compendium which was the only thing that could save him at that point. _

_He is still a Wild Card and stores the Personas he uses in his head and leaves the rest in the Compendium. A Wild Card's Compendium is technically their soul. Due to the massive damage he had sustained to his soul and psyche, the Compendium had to rebond fully to his soul to repair the damage. He can summon and Record Personas with it on his own. Due to DEATH itself placed inside him, Minato may be classed as slightly inhuman. The influence of DEATH has warped his mindset slightly and reinforced his body. This change allows for him to attempt the inhuman magiks the Velvet Room Residents are capable of. (See Velvet Room Magiks)  
_

_X_

_?/?/?_

Minato's eyes fluttered open weakly to be met with a comforting blue. As he tried to get up, a delicate hand pressed itself lightly on his chest. It only exerted a small amount of pressure but in his weakened state it felt like a brick. Too weak to resist, he complied with the force and settled. The colour and atmosphere were enough to relax and assure him that he was safe.

The couch, generally reserved for him during his visits that he slept through, was far too comfortable for him to attempt to rise. His eyes flicked towards the sisters hovering over his couch.

"Minato-sama, you've gone and hurt yourself again." Margret chided, standing behind Elizabeth.

He blinked woozily again, everything seemed out of focus, even for the Velvet Room.

"Stay still Mina-chan," Elizabeth softly smiled at him.

She rested a gentle hand on his face and a warm energy rushed through his body. His sight abruptly sharpened. He closed his eyes as the pain began to fade. When she removed her hand, he felt her move away. A new weight settled on his couch.

_Wha-? Theo would never be so informal, who's this?_

"Nii-san you need to be more careful."

His eyes flew open, startled. Heart in his throat, he stared in disbelief at the figure sitting on his couch.

Auburn hair was pulled up in a ponytail, a similar pair of bangs covering an eye. A set of clips were lined up to form XXII or Twenty two, the number of Arcana. A similar MP3 rested comfortably around her neck. She wore exactly what she had been wearing the last time he saw her with a slight colour change.

A pleated black skirt modestly covered her knees, about the length of Mitsuru's own. The long sleeve red blouse she had worn had been changed to a blue to match the room. A red bow was tied neatly around her neck.

Most surprisingly, a thin long coat was draped over her shoulders. He had never seen that before and it didn't seem like something she'd wear but she was obviously attached to it. He stared at her. She was all grown up now, no longer the child that Thanatos had accidentally snatched too early.

"Are you really here?" He croaked.

She nodded brightly. She seemed to be as affected as him, tears were gathering in her eyes. Ignoring the lingering pains, Minato pulled himself up and wrapped his long dead sister in a hug. She returned the hug with equal fervor, the two clinging fiercely to each other.

"H-how?" He mumbled into her hair.

This was beyond his wildest dreams. She was alive. _She was alive._

She pulled back with a blinding smile. "That's something for another time. Please rest Minato-nii, you're exhausted."

She gently wiped away the tears he didn't even know were falling from his eyes. He slumped against her side, his mind desperately trying to comprehend how his dead sister was holding him in warm and decidedly _not dead_ arms.

The parts of him that had been irreparably broken at her death were still there, but the pain was fading. He was still too shattered to ever be whole again but it was nice to realize that some part of him was still human and not an mindless shadow-slaughterer.

"Heh." He smiled quietly looking at his sister. "I didn't even know I could still cry."

She lowered his limp body back against the couch, even as his gaze remained fixed on her face. Gently brushing his bangs off his face, she started to hum an old lullaby. Total contentment was clear on her face.

"Hamuko..."

"Shh..."

He reached up and grasped her fingers.

"Don't leave me again..."

Against his own will he felt his eyelids closing, exhaustion and shock working against him. She hummed, stroking his face.

"I won't Nii-san. I missed you too."

The last thing he saw was her face smiling in happiness.

"Kirijo-san?"

"Yes?"

The redhead turned to look at the doctor, with trepidation. Beside her, Yukari also looked up in worry. The two had been waiting there for nearly two hours after the Kirijo doctors got at Akihiko and Arisato.

The doctor, a young man with wild brown hair, sighed. Though he was only twenty two, Taiki Shimizu was personally in charge of dealing with all Kirijo Group Persona Users. It was a taxing job but It granted him access to unlimited funds for his patients as well as the ENTIRE Kirijo databank. He was required to know everything about shadows and Personas as part of his job so he could treat injuries related to the phenomena.

Taiki couldn't deny that it gave him a thrill to know that the supernatural stuff were real. He had been a real fantasy nut when he was younger and was extremely grateful to the head of the Kirijo Group for giving him the job. More importantly to the elder Kirijo however, he treated the Persona Users like people and not test subjects. Considering his own daughter was one, such ideas were ruthlessly crushed by the organization.

"Sanada-san will be fine but Arisato-san..." Taiki hesitated.

"Will he be alright, Shimizu-san?" She barked, fingers tightening around the armrest of her chair.

"He is recovering, though not by our efforts."

He motioned for them to follow him. They had only taken a few steps when Akihiko appeared from around the corner. Mitsuru gave him a glare but he only raised his hands in a placating gesture, showing the bandages on his arm. The boxer's face was completely serious.

"You need to see this."

The group of misfits followed Taiki into Arisato's room, with anxiety. To Mitsuru's surprise, Minato appeared to be peacefully sleeping under the covers. That notion was quickly thrown out the window as she stepped into the room. The very air seemed to crackle.

According to what Yukari saw, He summoned two different Personas separately. The energy signature blazing now was also different from the overwhelming presence of the obviously combat oriented Persona he used before. Benevolent power of a different kind saturated the air. It was nothing like the vicious magics and Persona he had used before.

_Three Personas? _Mitsuru speculated.

Even Yukari, the weakest Persona User present could feel the energy being expended within the room. She gasped as the pressure hovered over her as well. Akihiko merely grimaced at the weight of the supercharged air. Taiki just sighed. He could feel the power but he could easily brush off such things. That was just how he was.

"They said he's been like this since they put him here." Akihiko supplied. "No idea why he's using so much energy though."

"What are his injuries like?" Mitsuru demanded.

Taiki picked up a clipboard on the beside table with a grimace and glanced at the boy on the bed. The blue hair reminded him painfully of a boy he met years ago. With a deep breath, he started to read aloud.

"He has second degree burns over his entire left arm which is regenerating quickly. His right has a bone deep slash on his bicep that will prevent him from moving the arm for a while. Normally we'd put stitches but with how fast and erratic his regeneration seems to be it would only injure him more. He had several cracked ribs but those healed within the first hour."

"You can't do anything?" Yukari asked slightly desperately.

The doctor shook his head. "There's something else..."

"Go on."

"According to what we could discover from his body, he's no stranger to fighting."

The man passed a thick wad of pages to Mitsuru. Taiki shifted uncomfortably.

"From what we can tell by primary examination, he's broken each limb at least four times, cracked his ribs more than a dozen times, been run through twice and had a patchwork of scars from bladed weapons, wind and fire spells. I was going to run another test to see how bad his scarring went but..."

The entire group stared. Mitsuru just looked at the boy lying comatose on the bed. Not even she had that much scars and she had been the longest active. His injury list was ridiculously long.

"What happened with the tests?" She mused absently, her mind still shocked.

Taiki grimaced. The motion did not go unnoticed by Mitsuru. She turned all of her attention to the doctor and made a gesture to continue. He clasped his hands nervously over his dark purple buttoned up shirt and refused to meet any of their eyes.

"Kirijo-san, this boy is...he's been giving off the same type of energy as the Dark Hour. Its been killing all our scanners but allowing us to hook him up to monitors. Its as if he's subconsciously directing the energy to cancel specific electronics. Something in him, probably his Persona, doesn't want us to look any further. Whatever Persona it is, it is far stronger than you three combined."

"!"

"You think it was that big one?" Akihiko puzzled. "That thing was overflowing with power. Polyduces kept screaming to get away from it."

"Did you get a name?" Taiki asked quickly.

"Um...Thata...thachacros? Thana..." Yukari tapped the side of her jaw thoughtfully. "Don't think so. I was a bit distracted by that _thing._"

_Oh gods, please don't say who I think you're trying to say..._ The Mythology expert pleaded.

"Thanatos." Mitsuru enunciated clearly. "That was what he shouted when he summoned it."

_SH*T._

"Well, I think its safe to say that he's an Origin Witness."

"A wha-?" Yukari questioned.

Taiki unconsciously shifted positions until he was in his lecturing pose, waving his clipboard as a pointer.

"An Origin Witness is someone who was awake and witnessed the first Dark Hour when it happened. That's around ten years ago."

"He's been awake _Ten years_?!" Akihiko exploded. "He would've only been seven!"

"The energy signature is unmistakeable. There have only been three or four known ones that've been recorded. They all have a slight scent-"

At this point everyone watched him funny, but he was too lost in his scientific mumblings to care.

"-of Dark Hour but I don't think any actually have _power_ over it."

He stopped and tapped his chin with his clipboard, still ignoring the people in the room. "Well maybe two of them but _not to this extent!_"

"He is different, then." Mitsuru deduced. "Stronger?"

The doctor nodded firmly. "That 'Thanatos' seems to be very strong but it provided whiplash on his body. Which is why he's expending so much energy to fix whatever he's strained. From what Akihiko told me, he can use multiple Personas. The limit to them might be endless. He's also fought a long time. To your point of view he'd be the perfect recruit."

"But...?"

"He's not strongly built like Akihiko or...you know(Shinji)...From what I can observe, his breathing tends to get screwed when he over strains himself. Probably a respiratory disease of some kind."

Most people would be horrified to speak so loosely to a member of the Kirijo family who owned the entire island. Taiki Shimizu had long past that state of formality. He had been working as the SEES doctor for a very long time, despite his young age. Though she would never admit it, Mitsuru tended to see him as an older brother. He didn't get cowed, like other people, by the Kirijo name. He simply didn't care who her father was.

"Hmm...He could still be helpful. It would be better than letting another Origin Witness vanish."

Taiki chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"For the record that was really not my fault..."

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**Introducing OC #1! He's a nice guy who seem pretty normal if a bit weird. He'll be coming in a lot as SEES gets sent to the Hospital. Knowing Minato, he'd visit every other week. I always wondered why there wasn't any Kirijo Group doctor for SEES considering the amount of fighting they do.**

**(Taiki Shimizu is actually the name I got when I put my big Brother's name in a Japanese translator. XP)**

**XSend a review to rate Taiki!  
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	7. I Break out of Hospitals for Fun

**I am currently in several serious exams for the next month so you guys can't expect a regular update. Sorry about that. I should be fine after that though. **

**Oh yeah, I got bored and had a strange thought that evolved into a PersonaXNaruto crossover (Weird,'cause I'm not too fond of Naruto) that involved the totally epic Minato Namikaze (Naruto's old man, one of the few characters from the series that i like) and everybody's favourite emo Jesus, Minato Arisato!**

**If you look at them, the similarities are scary. Not in looks but how they lived their life and what they died for.**

**Does anybody else notice how similar in appearance Minato Namikaze and Volkner from Pokemon DP are?**

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**Sorry, I was rambling. On wit teh fic!**

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_Velvet Room Magiks- The Residents are all inhuman and capable of reality twisting magiks that humans can barely comprehend. The Velvet Room itself is an example of such. Only a Wild Card can grasp the mindset required to a small extent so that they can see the door. Regular people, even fellow Persona-Users cannot do so and cannot see it. _

_These impossible magiks involve the Velvet Room, the fusion of Personas (fusing two aspects of a soul is rather impossible), entering dreamscapes, crossing dimension barriers, spacial maniulation, insane amounts of power, summoning bits of someone ELSE's soul, Knowing the future and using Social Links to create power (Which is a very strange power source). _

_Minato only knows how fuse on a very minor scale, enough knowledge of Spatial Magiks to store medicene and bandages in cards that he keeps in his Compendium and slight divination at the moment.  
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4/17/09

Even as he returned to consciousness, the memory of his sister's face remained with him. He could feel another Persona user next to his bed. Mitsuru, from the chill of it. He just...couldn't bring himself to care.

Unbidden, his mind drifted back to the last time he had seen Hamuko's face. Bloodstained on a bloody bridge, red eyes dulled with death. Bodies and blood. Blood. Death. Fire. Destruction.

His hands clenched around the sheets briefly before he forcibly relaxed himself. She was alright. Stuck in the Velvet Room for now, but alive. The other attendants could leave so he was fairly sure he could get her out. Even if it was only for a few hours walk around town, he couldn't care less.

She was alive.

Feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he opened his eyes. A white hospital roof greeted him. A quick flick of his eyes to the left revealed Mitsuru sitting there engrossed in a book. Shifting back the covers a little, he proceeded to sit up. To his great annoyance, he was wearing a generic hospital gown.

That was not his concern though. Used to battle and the injuries that came with it, he began to analyze the damage. His left arm was entirely encased in bandages which made it uncomfortable to move. His right got off light with only a small amount of bandages wrapped around the slash. It stung a little but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

_How's the internal?_

_**Well and truly f-**_

_**Thanatos, shut up. **_Orpheus really was at the end of his tether. A tinge of annoyance was seeping though his tone.

Minato sighed.

_Could one of you tell me how bad it is?_

_**We've repaired 90% of the damage to your lungs. The Jack Brothers repaired the burn.**_

Minato could hear the strain on his more sane Persona and winced. Stuck supervising Thanatos and the two Jack Brothers for several days was probably very unpleasant for him.

_Thank you Orpheus. Please take a break._

_**I will.**_

He heard the fierce _whack_ of something metallic echoing in his head followed by a flare of heat and a yelp from Thanatos.

_Do I want to know?_ He asked hesitantly.

_**I've wanted to do that for the past week.**_ Orpheus stated as blankly as ever. _**Serves him right for being an annoyance during surgery.**_

_**OWWWW! Dammit you-!**_

_Thanatos._ Minato sighed.

_**He blew up my face!**_

_You probably deserved it. Now could you be quiet? I have to find the Compendium._

Ignoring Thanatos's complaints, he looked around the sanitized ward for his brown book. His Compendium wasn't in sight. He assumed Elizabeth wouldn't have let it lie around. The key was still his though. Holding out his hand, he was rewarded when his Summoning Tome dropped into his palm. Mitsuru looked up, startled at his casual summoning.

He couldn't feel anything from his arms, thankfully. Elizabeth had numbed all the pain. It had also helped that they had let him sleep for two weeks straight in the room where time flowed differently. The book was instantly hugged to his chest.

With his teeth, he started tugging on the bandages. Mitsuru finally moved, trying to stop him.

"You'll aggravate your injuries!"

Minato shot her a completely blank glare. Ignoring her he went back to tugging on the strips of cloth. Getting annoyed with his behaviour, she forcibly pulled his arm away. Unfortunately the bandage was already loose. As the cloth fell, Mitsuru gasped.

His arm was unblemished from the burn but now his arm was no longer black, his numerous battle scars were clearly visible. Slashes from bladed weapons and garu spells littered the visible patch of bare skin. The Jack Brothers had done a good good job.

Wordlessly, now that he had finished assessing the healed arm, he began to re wrap it loosely. A quick poke informed him that the damage wrought by the slash was worse. He didn't bother unwrapping that bandage.

He opened the Compendium and drew a card from the pages. Mitsuru had resigned herself to watching, realizing from the air of long practice that he knew exactly what he was doing. With a quick twist of the card, it shattered and a roll of bandages fell into his hand. Taking the new roll, he began to wrap his other arm to hide his extensive scarring.

The art of compressing things into cards had saved him many a time. It was also useful if he had to smuggle around several sharp implements on a daily basis.

Shifting his gaze to the red head at his bedside, he gave her an utterly flat glare.

"How long have I been out?"

"A week. I take it from your behaviour you are aware of your actions?"

He simply looked at her. "And what about them?"

She looked like she was considering something but shook off the idea. "We will discuss it at the dorm. I expect you to come back to the dorm tomorrow after the doctor gives you an okay."

He gave her a weird look. "I'm fine. It would be nice if you brought clothes though."

Thankfully, she had brought a bag of clothes. After a quick dig through he was annoyed to discover that his suspicions had been correct. The one who had packed it had put in a short sleeved T-shirt. He'd need the bandages if he wanted to leave. As he looked at Mitsuru and raised an eyebrow, she remained poised and told him what he was asking.

"Akihiko Sanada, the other senior, packed it."

"Ah. Silver hair. Guy who gets mugged by fangirls."

She seemed highly amused by that.

"...Was there any collateral damage?" Minato asked hesitantly.

Mitsru's face twisted in bemusement. "Surprisingly enough, the only irreparable damage was to Ikutsuki's car. You completely totaled it."

The Wild Card stared at her in complete disbelief. "Really?"

She nodded and Thanatos let out a raucous cheer. Minato mentally gave the very destructive Persona a high five.

_**Take THAT you stink bastard!**_ Thanatos crowed.

_**It may only be a car...**_ Orpheus smugly said. _**But payback is refreshing in any form. Ah...Schadenfreude.**_

"That is...unfortunate..." He said with the straightest face he could manage.

It did nothing to disguise the malicious gleam in his eyes though. It left Mitsuru wondering why he was so pleased. She shrugged and simply decided to dismiss it.

"If that is all, I will be taking my leave then."

She stood up to leave but he stopped her.

"Forgive me for asking, but why are you here?"

She froze. Turning to give him a slightly strained smile she replied. "I just came to make sure a dorm mate was recovering."

He gave her a genuine smile, which seemed to catch her slightly off guard. "Thank you."

She quickly turned away but not before Minato caught the flame in her cheeks. He grinned madly as she gave him an awkward farewell, not meeting his eyes. Orpheus sighed but Ryoji crowed at his host's success.

_Oh yeah, I still got it!_

Sneaking out had been very easy. He changed as soon as Mitsuru was out the door. The lack of sleeves made the bandages obvious but he was going to rely on his Charisma and Ryoji's pick up lines to get himself out of any trouble. Seriously, when Thanatos let his lighter side through, he could talk his way out of ANYTHING.

Thanatos was the most unique entity that resided in his head. In theory, he was split into three fractions. First, Thanatos himself, bloodthirsty killer and weapon's specialist extraordinaire. He held a deep fondness for blowing things up and setting it on fire. Orpheus generally did not like the chaos that Thanatos liked to cause in his 'paperwork' in Minato's head. This generally lead to headaches for Minato as the two rivals would duel all over _his_ head, thank you very much. Whoever said Orpheus was weak had another thing coming.

Then the other two fragments were so deeply embedded into his soul, he doubted he'd ever be able to remove them. The larger fragment was, surprisingly, Pharos. A small, supposedly innocent, child dressed in prison clothes and a penchant for the creepy. Some nights he actually was capable of forming in the Dark Hour. Minato would never admit it but he was very fond of his pseudo little brother. The kid had a very dry set of humor that was very entertaining.

The third fragment which was his unofficial 'shadow', Ryoji, someone who was like a grown up version of Pharos and was nearly identical to Minato himself with slicked back hair. He also was a shameless ladies man and had to be reminded daily that no, he had no control over the body and no, he would not be going out to attempt to pick up chicks in his host's body.

Minato sauntered out of the hospital, Compendium tucked safely under his arm. He spent nearly half an hour wandering around to Ryoji's attempts to flirt at passers by echoing in his head, trying to find a Velvet Room door. Eventually, the book led him to a secluded alley within the mall. Ignoring the dozens of odd looks he got from his bandaged appearance, he slipped into the side street. The glowing door lay harmlessly at the end of the dead end.

With a happy smile, he opened the door only he could see. His entire body flickered on the mortal plane. If anyone had been watching they would've seen a small twitch from the boy before a coat materialized around his body. A second later, a girl apparently appeared from thin air as she left the blue door to latch onto his arm.

"Come on Nii-san, show me around!"

"No need to be so pushy!" He smiled. "I only got here, what? A week ago? And then I spent most of it unconscious! I don't really know my way around..."

"That just makes it more fun!" Hamuko grinned.

He merely smiled at her cheerfulness. Technically trapped in time for the past ten years she seemed to have retained much of her childlike innocence and happiness.

He guided her around the mall to the best of his limited ability, as he wasn't too familiar with his surroundings either. An hour was spent in the music store with Minato pointing out the modern bands and getting her a new CD. The love of music was equally shared among the twins, emphasized by their near identically MP3 players.

Because Hamuko expressed interest in seeing the shrine, Minato decided to go along with the idea. Getting directions from a nice guy sitting on a bench at Minato's insistence, they both set off. Hamuko remained latched onto his arm reluctant to let go after so long away from her big brother.

They took a relaxing walk, taking a different route so they wouldn't pass in front the dorms. Minato refrained from mentioning his miserable life during the years she was dead, only giving general answers. He knew that she probably already knew about the beatings he had received at the hands of the shadows.

"So, Hamu-chan, what have you been doing all these years?"

She frowned lightly, chewing on her lip.

"Ne, Nii-san, I'm not too sure..."

"Hm?"

She hummed thoughtfully as Minato tugged her out of the way of another light pole. Not even noticing, she hummed some more as he sighed and guided her around the bicycle rack she hadn't seen either.

"Well, I could see the world passing by so I got to 'grow up' technically. Lizzy-chan (Elizabeth, for those confused people) told me I have those ten years saved up since I didn't 'live' them. I guess It was like being a ghost...All I remember of the place I watched from is fog."

"Fog?"

"Uhuh!" She nodded. "Lots and lots of fog. There was this window, see, that I watched in the fog. It showed me the world!"

"Really..."

"Yep!" She chattered on. "I learned a coupla languages when I was bored."

Minato eyed her in mild amusement. "Well that's interesting."

"I know, right!" she grinned, clapping her hands together. "Butterfly-san said so too!"

"Butterfly-san...?"

"Yeah..." She tapped a finger on her chin. "A nice blue butterfly that talked to me in the fog. He only visited once though."

"...That butterfly sounds familiar...Oh, well. Here we are, Naganaki Shrine."

Hamuko was delighted with the traditional shrine. She skipped along the path, finally letting go of him. A joyous laugh left her throat as she spun among the fallen petals, her coat flaring out behind her. Minato let a rare soft smile break through his shields. He was smiling far more than he ever had in the past years. It was so peaceful. It was so idyllic, he wished he could stay like that forever.

A lazy glance through the shrine only revealed a tall man with a beanie petting a white dog. A second glance revealed the man to be a well built brunette with an impressive maroon coat. At the sight of him, Thanatos stirred. Minato could feel it too. Raw power was rolling off the man from the Persona raging behind mental shields. He was strong but wild.

Minato hunched over for a moment, clenching a hand over his heart as the familiar scent of death washed through his body.

_**He is burning his own life force to suppress his Persona.**_ Thanatos reported grimly.

As he straightened up, his gaze locked with the stranger's. In that moment both of them knew. The utter violent nature of both their Personas connected across the space. Kindred spirits of a manner, Minato would think. The Wild Card dipped his head briefly in respect but didn't blink. Staring something wild in the eyes was not good unless you could challenge it.

Minato let Thanatos's sheer power seep into the air, but the man's Persona was wickedly powerful. But little by little, the raging Persona quieted. It may be ridiculously strong but Thanatos was DEATH. The man relaxed slightly as the ever oppressive presence became silent.

The moment was shattered by Hamuko bouncing in front of the other man. The staring contest shattered as the other fighter looked down at her in confusion. Minato had to stop himself from rushing forward to pull her away but the Persona-User didn't seem aggressive.

"Huh?" The man blinked, staring at the girl now smiling at him.

"Its nice to meet you, Mr! What's your name?"

The man tugged his beanie over his eyes to hide his discomfort in the situation. "Tch. I ain't that old, I'm only eighteen. No need to call me 'Mr'."

Hamuko's smile didn't diminish in the slightest. "Okay, Nice to meet you Sempai!"

The man nearly choked. "Don't call me that!"

"Then what's your name Sempai?"

He was silent, eyes averted. The dog at his feet nudged him encouragingly. Minato gave it an assessing glance as he drifted closer. The red eyed dog was scruffy but well fed and appeared to be quite intelligent.

"Shinjiro Aragaki."

"Okay, Shinjiro-sempai!"

"Don't call me that!" He ducked his head away, embarrassment colouring his cheeks.

Minato let another smile cross his face. Despite his rough appearance, the man really seemed kind-hearted. Hamuko peppered the man with cheerful questions, even as he looked highly confused. They locked gazes briefly as Minato began to approach, Shinjiro flicked his eyes downward to Hamuko and back up as if to say.

_Is she involved?_

A perfectly reasonable question to ask another Persona-User when you meet them, prevents you from sounding like an idiot in front of other people. Minato gave a slight shake of the head. She may be a resident of the Velvet Room but she had no Compendium and he wasn't planning on involving her in Shadows.

"Hamuko, It's getting dark. We need to get home."

She pouted and turned. "But nii-san, I made a new friend!"

"I noticed." he said dryly, studying Shinjiro thoroughly. "I'm Minato Arisato. This highly energetic sister of mine is Hamuko Arisato."

"Tch. You heard my name already." The man gruffly responded with a wary glance.

Neither male offered a handshake but Minato inclined his head again. "It is nice to meet you Aragaki-san but we really have to be going."

"Nii-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan..." She whined.

"Do you want Margret to grill me for keeping you out late?" He countered, amused by her antics.

"Fine..." She grumbled before turning to Shinjiro. "I guess I'll see you later Shinjiro-sempai!"

"Don't call me that!"

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**There we go! One of my favourite characters and a main character for this fic appears! Also the stage is set for my favourite pairing of HamukoXShinji! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!**

***cough***

**R-right...**

**Hamuko turned out as a clingy and innocent younger sister. Mainly because she hasn't seen the world in a veeeeery long time. She'll be kicking a*s eventually, don't worry.**

**And yes, she doesn't have a Persona or Compendium and knows next to nothing about Shadows. She know about the Velvet Room, 'cause she lives there, and that they can do magic, that's about it.** **She also knows her Nii-san is a very strong mage. That's it.**

**She's not squishy though. Her Velvet Room coat can protect her from shadow attacks and everyday injuries, though she doesn't know it can do that. **

**Minato doesn't want her to get involved in what he sees as _his_ war. Plus he's going all overprotective big brother on her.**

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**Until next time! Ja ne!**


	8. SEES Interrogation

**Sorry, I forgot to update! Plz don't kill me...**

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_4/18/09_

"Uh...Morning..."

Minato eyed the brunette with great amusement. After watching him jump off a building and engage in hand to hand combat to the death with a Shadow, the poor girl simply didn't know how to react to him.

After an interesting outing with his sister yesterday, he had escorted her back home without any difficulties. Making his way to the dorm, he broke into his own room via the second floor window. He had a nice sleep on a comfortable bed, studiously ignoring the large chunk of ice in a corner of the ceiling. Serves them right for trying to spy on him.

"Good Morning Takeba-san."

"Uh...you seem to be doing well..."

He raised an eyebrow.

Tips of tattered bandages were trailing out of his sleeves and a few were winding their way lazily up his neck. All were purely for show. Aside from a few phantom pains from his arm, his injuries had mostly healed. That did not stop the weakness he got from being comatose for a week.

"Not really."

"Wow...even after all that rest...is it still difficult to walk?"

She was starting to become comfortable talking to him now. He decided to take pity on her and not retort back with the sarcastic jibe on his tongue. The last time she had seen him he had been a insane fighter. No need to kick her world view further...for now.

The walk yesterday had done nothing for his legs but he would die rather than admit that to Hamuko.

"Yes it is."

"Hey, sorry to add this to your worries, but... Ikutsuki-san wants to talk to you today. Come to the 4th floor of the dorm after school, okay? Don't forget."

"I already know." He told her coolly, hurrying into the building.

His legs were already starting to tremble.

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"Hey Junpei."

Junpei leaned back, gaping dramatically. As soon as Minato reached near a desk, he instantly latched onto it for support. His legs were not agreeing with him at the moment. Why did his class have to be up a flight of stairs?

"Woah, dude! Are you okay?"

Minato shot him the dryest look imaginable. "What do _you_ think."

Instantly, Junpei was by his side, helping him support his own weight. Several people were turning curiously to watch the odd sight. Whispers were already going out. The Magician carefully guided the Fool towards his desk.

"What happened? Was it a gang? Did you beat them up? Oh, I bet it was a bear!"

Settling at his desk, he blinked several times looking up at his friend. He started to chuckle softly before breaking into rare full blown laughter.

"A-a bear?!" He gasped out.

Junpei sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah I didn't believe that rumor either."

"Rumor? Already?" He asked, as his laughter died down. "What are they saying about me now?"

"Which one?"

"Oh good gods." Minato grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

Junpei began to tick off the stories on his fingers. "One says you fought a bear. One says you got mugged by a gang. The last one says you got mugged by a gang, beat them up, took over and went to the hospital to check in all the people you beat up."

"No, No...what was that last one?"

Junpei shrugged. "They just said you got mugged, you beat the crap out of your assailants, had them swear undying loyalty to your awesomeness and then went to the hospital to check in all your new followers."

Minato blinked several times. "Huh."

"Amazing, huh?"

"I think I like that last one." Minato grinned.

"So what actually happened?" Junpei leaned closer.

The Wild Card looked at him with a sigh. He was like a five year old waiting for a bedtime story. It felt like kicking a puppy to not tell him. Thankfully, Ms. Toriumi decided to enter the classroom at that moment to spare him the shame.

"Nothing. I'll tell you later."

In a moment of insight, Junpei sensed Minato's uneasiness with the topic of the source of his injuries and decided to not ask about it again for the rest of the day. Minato was very thankful. He didn't want to feel like he kicked a puppy.

Thankfully the long day of sitting down at a desk allowed Orpheus to finish restoring his legs and cleaning up his arm and lungs. By the time the day was drawing to a close Minato was back to his usual snarky and antisocial self.

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Minato entered the dorm quickly. The instant he did so his Compendium thudded into his hand. A wary glance around the empty Lobby confirmed that he was, in fact, alone. He quickly equipped Orpheus as he started up the stairs.

_Alright, Thanatos you need to keep yourself in check. He WILL recognize you as the thirteenth if you take over. No matter what he did to us we CANNOT react._

Thanatos grumbled darkly. _**He tried to KILL you and practically CRIPPLED YOU!**_

_Thanatos, Please._

It was rare that Minato begged him for anything. This was serious.

_If you cannot keep yourself in check I fear our animosity and rage will overtake us and we'll kill him without finding out his plan._

_**Fine. Only 'cause you asked nicely.**_ He grumbled.

_Thank you. When we get to kill him I promise to give you full reign._

_**Damn Straight!**_

Face utterly blank, he trooped up the last flight of stairs to meet Yukari standing outside a pair of thick wooden doors.

"Oh! There you are!" She smiled uneasily.

He obediently followed her into the meeting room. His eyes were immediately drawn to the large monitor that took up a whole wall. Ah. He was going to have fun with this. Mitsuru, Akihiko and Ikutsuki were already sitting around the table. As they entered, Ikutsuki eagerly raised his head.

"Ah, there you are. I'm glad that you're okay. The reason I asked you here is because I needed to talk to you. Please, have a seat."

Minato eyed the briefcase on the table warily before settling down gingerly on a couch. Yukari also chose a spot to settle in.

"Oh yes, before we get down to business. This is Akihiko Sanada."

"How ya doin'?" The senior amiably greets.

Minato tilted his head. "You're the one who gets mugged by fangirls."

There was silence for a few seconds before Akihiko facepalmed. Mitsuru chuckled into her hand. Yukari just looked confused.

"Its not like I _want_ to get mugged," He hastily said. "Aren't we supposed to be discussing something else?!"

"Right," Ikutsuki clapped his hands. "Okay, let me start off by asking you this... Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?"

In a second _Hades_ was in his hand and pointed at the chairman's throat across the table. The others half rose from their seats in shock.A second ago, he had been blank as a sheet. Now rage was building in his eyes.

"What do you take me for?" He growled, letting Thanatos through a bit. "A fool? You know I already know about the Dark Hour. _Cut the crap._"

The second part of his sentence was hissed so low and with such venom, Ikutsuki gulped nervously. Mitsuru calmly intervened.

"Please put away the sword Arisato."

_Back off Thanatos! You're pushing out too far!_

With a twist of the hand the sword shattered back into nothingness. Everyone else looked on in awe though Ikutsuki merely looked thankful to be out from its blade.

"Long story short, we're the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad-SEES for short. On paper, we're classified as a school club. But in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the Shadows. Mitsuru is the leader. I'm the club advisor."

"Hmm...only three Persona Users in an area hosting the Nest of Shadows, that's not wise."

"You know about the tower?" Akihiko asked in surprise.

Minato tilted his head with his face blank. "Yes. It was hard to miss."

Mitsuru got up and opened the briefcase. Inside was a gleaming silver Evoker and a red armband similar to what all the others wore.

"What he's trying to say is, we want you to join us. We've prepared an Evoker for you. We'd like you to lend us your strength."

He tilted his head emotionlessly. Then he started to laugh.

"You think I need an Evoker?" He chuckled. "I am a Summoner, not a User. The facets of my soul do not require a medium to materialize."

"What is a Summoner?" Ikutsuki asked eagerly, leaning forward.

"Someone with a Compendium at their disposal." He admitted, tapping the inconspicuous book. "I'm afraid that I'm the only mortal one left."

"Hm...There are others then?" Mitsuru calmly replied.

"Indeed." He replied honestly. "But as I said, they won't help you, only me. They don't even live on this plane of existence."

To her credit, Mitsuru only blinked in response to his statement.

"What is a Compendium then?" Ikutsuki asked eagerly.

Minato lifted his book to show the team, with an almost invisible smirk on his lips . They took in the plain hardcover book with confusion. The Summoner smiled and channeled the barest of energy into the tome. A blue aura flared to life around the book and a pulse of invisible pressure seemed to emanate from it.

_**Okay, I've scanned all of them. **_Orpheus reported. _**The strongest would be Mitsuru in terms of Spiritual Rank.**_

"Before you get any ideas, this book only answers to me and always remains by my side. It is near indestructible. It also cannot be replicated. Each Compendium is unique to each summoner." He told them harshly, fixing them in serious silver eyes. "Do not tamper with it or the spirits within _will_ kill you."

The flash of annoyance in Ikutsuki's eyes didn't go unnoticed by the Wild Card.

"I've been a Persona Summoner for seven years," He smiled, letting some of Orpheus fade back. "But I've been awake for ten."

Mitsuru's jaw tightened. He could see the guilt and pain in her eyes. Ah. Kirijo. That explained everything. Her family was the one that created the Dark Hour, accident or not.

"I can use all the elements with varying degrees of proficiency and can negate attacks if I see them coming."

It was best to let them know how dangerous he could be without informing them of the full extent of his abilities. The idea of his ability to cast outside the Dark Hour would not be a good thing to let them know with Ikutsuki in the room. Dates of incidents would have to be lied about to prevent suspicion from falling on him. The only good thing was that after what happened seven years ago, the little boy Wild Card was supposed to be dead.

Then he grimaced, realizing a flaw in his plan.

"If you truly want me to work with you, I must tell you about my condition."

"You want terms?" Akihiko asked in confusion.

"No," Minato chuckled. "My medical condition. I have a quite serious one. Do you still want me to join?"

"Yes," Mitsuru answered confidently. "It would be safer for you if you have a liability like you're implying. You are quite strong and have a quick mind and a decade of experience. Even if we don't send you into the field you can give sound tactical advice."

Minato nodded grudgingly. "You have a point."

"Though...Forgive me, but your files have no Medical issues on them. The doctor that looked you over suspected something but..."

He stared at her blankly. "Do you think I can honestly go to a regular doctor with my condition?"

"It is Dark Hour related?" Ikutsuki demanded, leaning hungrily forward.

Minato sighed uncomfortably. How much could he give away without revealing himself? It was critical he inform them about his condition but the idea of Ikutsuki also hearing it was not appealing at all.

"I was not aware that the Dark Hour can cause medical problems." Mitsuru stated dryly.

"It...well...isn't directly linked to the Hour..." He shuffled in pretended uneasiness. "Its more like an ability."

"One of the things that happens, is I can sometimes sense things I'm not supposed to. Like an ambush of shadows or a lethal spell before they happen. Depending how bad, I experience dizziness and moments of weakness."

"Isn't that like a sixth sense?" Yukari asked.

"It would make me invaluable to you with that alone..." He remarked quietly.

"You don't sound too thrilled." Akihiko pointed out. "If you said its a medical condition..."

He grimaced again. "Its painful and the moment of weakness was never good when I was surrounded by shadows or running from them. That brings me to another side of my illness."

"_Surrounded by shadows?" _Mitsuru wondered. _"We barely encounter four at a time, maximum!"_

"Something draws Shadows to me. If they're anywhere within a certain distance from me they immediately home in on me and attack in numbers. I don't know why." He lied.

"Oh my..." Yukari gasped, looking horrified. "Those scars-!"

He nodded grimly, not bothing to ask how they knew about them. "Those are from the early days when I didn't know how to fight and had a weaker set of Personas. They _loved_ me then. Every night was a deathmatch."

"It sure was difficult to explain the numerous broken bones in the morning." He chuckled without humour.

Even stoic Mitsuru was looking a little sick at the thought.

"I was eleven when I learned to hide even broken bones from my foster parents. I got quite good at it. I survived."

"That's..." Yukari seemed to be in something of shock.

"That might make me something of a liability." He confessed rubbing the back of his head.

"That's fine." Mitsuru stated firmly. "It will be safer for you to have others around you to help protect yourself. If we leave you they would still come after you but you'd be alone."

He picked up the armband with a faint smile and began to attach it to his uniform.

"Guess that's that." He nodded. "Thank you."

A familiar voice rang in his head and he had to hold back a wider smile.

_**Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create a Persona of the Fool Arcana...**_

"Thank you so much. I'm really glad." the chairman smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot...About your room assignment... Why don't you just stay here, in your current room? I don't know what the holdup is, but I guess it worked out in the end."

Minato tilted his head impassively. "I was under the impression that the dorm was for those capable of moving through the Dark Hour. There is no need to hide the fact that you were stalking me to find out if I had 'Potential'. If you would note, There is now a small iceberg where your camera once was."

The room was silent.

"I think that's all for the meeting!" Ikutsuki hastily decided and ran out the door.

As soon as he left Minato shot a death glare after him.

"Creepy Stalker Pedophile..." He mumbled under his breath to himself.

Yukari and the others got up to go but Minato quickly called out to Mitsuru.

"Um, Kirijo-senpai? Can I talk to you? I believe I need to arrange for a new uniform jacket since I totaled the last one."

She caught the urgent look in his eye and nodded.

"Very well Arisato."

As soon as the others left the room, he locked the door. A quick Zio later, he had efficiently knocked out the camera. Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at his paranoia.

"What I tell you, you absolutely cannot tell a single soul." He said utterly seriously as he started to pace anxiously.

She looked at him skeptically before sighing. "What is so important that the others cannot hear?"

"Those things I told you are actually only the minor problems."

Her crimson gaze sharpened. "It is worse than that?"

He returned her glare. "Swear."

"Fine." She easily agreed, It wasn't like she had a choice, this was obvious serious.

He rested a hand on his chest. "You witnessed it back in the attack on the dorm. If I overexert myself in any way, especially when summoning my Persona, I have respiratory problems. Its utterly incurable and potentially fatal if it continues for an extended period of time."

"The doctor was right about his suspicions then. Your time fighting would have to be regulated..." Mitsuru murmured, tapping her chin in thought.

"Don't bother." Minato shook his head. "Besides, The shadows won't leave me alone. I've fought ten years, I can last another."

"Another? Are you planning to leave at the end of the year?"

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back slightly, a enigmatic smirk on his face.

"Let's just say I have a feeling..."

She gave him an entirely unimpressed look and crossed her arms. He chuckled dryly but remained silent on the matter. He bowed to her politely.

"If that is all, Kirijo-senpai, I will be off..."

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_**Dark Hour**_

"Hi, How are you?"

"Peachy." He deadpanned.

"Good to hear!" Pharos remarked cheerfully.

Once again, his shadowed side had taken full advantage of the Dark Hour to manifest himself in Minato's room. Said person partially unburrowed himself from his nest of blankets and sighed at the sight of the boy innocently smiling at the foot of his bed.

"Is there any chance I will be getting a full night's sleep?" He dryly responded.

Pharos ignored his snark as usual and clapped his hands together. "Soon, the end will come. I remembered, so I thought I should tell you."

Instantly, Minato was on guard. "The end? Mine? Or in general?"

The boy in the prison clothes sat comfortably at the foot of his bed, starting to swing his feet childishly. "The end of everything...but to be honest, I don't really know what it is."

Minato facepalmed with a groan of annoyance. "Typical, why do you never know about half the prophecies you announce?"

Pharos perked up. "Oh, you mean like that one I picked up? 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...'?"

"Ugh, I hate that one. You kept singing it for days!"

Pharos hummed happily and grinned. "Your power is getting stronger, you know. It just might be your salvation depending on where you end up."

"...Hm..." He stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

Pharos smiled enigmatically at Minato, rising from the bed. "It's nice to see you for once. Okay then, I guess I'll see you later."

"Pharos!"

"Hm?"

"You can stay you know." Minato sighed in exasperation.

He wasn't going to get any sleep during Dark Hour anyway, might as well do something with the time. The boy's face lit up in a bright smile and dove onto the bed. Quite happy to be close to his favourite person, he lay next to his theoretical older brother with no regards to personal space. Not that there could be anything personal between them since they shared a head. Staring at Minato with happy eyes, he kicked his feet childishly against the bed.

"So how was your day?"

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**Chapter eight fin! I will be going on vacation for a month so don't expect a chapter till August. Sorry about that...**

**You guys must hate me for updating so spastically. TT^TT**


	9. A Building that feels like Home

**Well I'm back from vacation but I am leaving again in a few days AGAIN. I realized that my store of chapters is getting a little low, so this chapter is 1K shorter than it was supposed to be to give me more time to write and store up more chapters for the school term. **

**X**

**Also, to that guest who called me insane. Thank you. Its a good thing you were anonymous otherwise I would've given you a piece of my well as a brick.  
**

**To begin with, If you are flaming at least leave your name so I can talk to you and figure out why you hate my story. That pissed me off more than the review itself to be honest.**

**And secondly, I am not trying to write Minato as 'endearing'. I am trying to mix several versions of his personality together, his cannon impassiveness and deadpan, Thanatos's bloodthirstyness and the mind of a strategist whose's been fighting on a one-sided war a bit to long to be completely sane with his methods with a little of bitter sarcasm thrown in. Do you have ANY IDEA how hard that is?**

**I have nothing against flamers. Just don't do it annoymously. That just means you're too much of a coward to stand by your opinions. I am quite fine if your solid opinion is that my Minato sucks but stand for it, dammit!**

***Cough***

**Rant over. Move on with teh fic and no, I don't own Persona or Shin Megami Tensai. I do own my very epic OC Taiki though. **

**And this version of Minato.**

**And...**

**You know what? **

**Nevermind.**

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4/19/09

"_**MINATO!"**_

"Good gods, can you quiet down?" Said person in question grumbled as he walked down the stairs.

Disheveled blue bangs stuck out every which way as the Summoner rubbed irritably at his face. One of his gloved hands supported him against the wall as he stumbled down the stairs. His impressive coat had obviously been thrown on in a great hurry, as none of the buttons were done, showing a creased T-shirt beneath.

"I would've if you came the first time I called!" Yukari growled, unperturbed by the sight.

"I was s-s-*yaaaaaawn*-sleeping..." He yawned, but stumbled to join the others in the lobby.

"...Okay, he's here now. So, what's this all about?" Yukari demanded.

"...You called me out of my nap and you didn't even know what was going on...?" his voice was utterly menacing for someone half asleep causing the two to shiver in fear.

"T-There's someone I wanted to introduce." Akihiko spoke up nervously from the door.

Turning back to outside the dorm he sighed. "...Hey, hurry up."

Right as the door opened, Minato caught scent of a familiar energy signature. An amused expression spread across his face as he heard the replying voice.

"Hold your horses... This is freakin' heavy."

Jupei Iori himself, entered Iwatodai dorm with a huge suitcase. Huffing and puffing from dragging the heavy piece of luggage up the stairs he gave a cocky grin.

"J-Junpei!? ...Why is HE here!? Wait, don't tell me-" Yukari screeched.

Oblivious as always, Akihiko continued. "This is Junpei Iori from Class 2-F. He'll be staying here as of today."

"Wazzap!" He grinned widely.

Minato raised a hand in greeting, using the other to stifle a yawn. "Yo."

"He's staying HERE!? You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I bumped into him the other night. He has the potential, but he just awakened to it recently... I told him about us, and he agreed to help."

"You have the potential!? For real!?"

"He found me cryin' like a baby at the convenience store, surrounded by a bunch of coffins. I don't remember much, but... man, that's embarrassing! He said that's, ya know, completely normal... in the beginning. Like, bein' confused and not remembering anything. Did ya guys know that?"

Minato blinked, the last traces of sleep leaving his system as he heard that tidbit. That was new. He'd never experienced something like that.

"No. I actually didn't know that." He replied honestly. "Does that really happen?"

"Yep!" Yukari nodded. "You probably don't remember since you awoke when you were young."

To her surprise, he nearly growled at her. "Unfortunately, I remember my first awakening perfectly."

"Woah, really dude?"

_How could I forget watching my parents die?_

"It was...traumatic...I'd rather not talk about it."

"Come on man," Junpei grinned. "It couldn't be worse than mine."

Minato rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Remember that book of mine?"

Junpei winced at the mention of the book that supposedly was granted by someone dead but nodded. Technically Hamuko herself had granted Minato control over the book. When Elizabeth showed up to hand it over she told him that Hamuko had gotten the residents to swear to help him in all ways possible. Then she supposedly 'passed on'. Due to her request and his own impending danger, Elizabeth felt obligated to pass over the Compendium.

"She died there."

"Oh." was the only thing the other boy could think to say.

A true smile flit across his face for a second. "Its quite alright, I've gotten over it." _because she isn't dead anymore._

"...But man, I was shocked to find out about you guys. I had no idea. I'm glad I'm not the only one. It could get kinda lonely, ya know. I bet you're stoked too, right!? Havin' me join..."

"I don't know." Minato tilted his head. "I am used to fighting alone. Having you as a teammate might be fun though."

"Way to kill the mood Mr. Deadpan!" Junpei chortled and slung an arm around the Summoner's shoulders.

"Thank you." He inclined his head with a smirk. "I try."

Akihiko cut in. "Well, enough with the introductions. I think we're about ready..."

"Ooh, we're gonna go do something? Sweetness!" Junpei jumped up and down excitedly.

"With this many people, we can start exploring that place."

Instantly, Minato tensed up. "What place...?"

"You mean... Tartarus...?" Yukari blurted.

"Tartarus...?" Minato laughed softly with a tinge of melancholy. "...The deepest pit of hell is a tower? How ironic. I doubt it will take kindly to Orpheus entering again."

_Do you remember Tartarus, Orpheus?_

A flash of fire, brimstone and darkness flickered across his mind. Minato nearly staggered from the brief moment of disorientation. He was used to such things happening but the memories were so vivid he couldn't help but reel back.

A Persona may only be a reflection, but they often carried fragments of their memories from their demons who the stories had happened to. With some coaxing, several of his residents had often allowed him glimpses into their legends.

"Dude!"

A hand on his back steadied him quickly. As he blinked away the dizziness, the sight of everyone staring at him in concern met him. He hurriedly steadied himself.

"My apologies."

"Don't apologize." Akihiko assured him. "What happened?"

"Yeah, you said something about Tartarus and then nearly fainted!" Yukari panicked.

"Ah. I just asked Orpheus if he remembered Tartarus."

It felt odd for him to actually tell people about the things he would see. He was used to keeping his visions to himself, sharing them made him feel inexplicably exposed. It was also kinda uncomfortable to bare the craziness in one's head for others to view. The people in the room reeled.

"WHAT?!"

"He only had a brief bit of memory for me but it was unpleasant to say the least." He shook his head. "If that tower I saw is really 'Tartarus' then its very bad news. What are you guys trying to accomplish by going there?"

"We believe we can find the reason for the Dark Hour there." Akihiko reasoned.

"Fair enough." Minato shrugged. _So tired._

"The Chairman will give us the details tomorrow night, so be ready." Akihiko addressed the entire group.

"I'm going back to sleep..." Minato grumbled, rubbing his eyes again. "And this time, LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE."

Yukari meeped, and fled upstairs quickly before he could fully make his displeasure known. With a unintelligible grunt, Minato grabbed Junpei's collar and started to drag him up the staircase, suitcase and all. Akihiko's muffled laughter followed them up the stairs.

Reaching the end of the second floor corridor, the Summoner wordless pointed to the door opposite his. Point made, The Wild Card slammed his door shut to go back to sleep.

Standing in the deserted corridor, feeling very bewildered, Junpei asked to no one in particular. "What's Tartarus?"

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Minato yawned. He had spent his day cataloging his Compendium discreetly during the classes. The weak pulses of Yukari and Junpei's Persona barely distracted him from his task, even as the Personas which were of the same Arcana stirred. He replaced some of the eight that resided in his head, making sure to have enough to cover all the elemental areas. The presence of Thanatos stirred briefly at his efforts but didn't move from his permanent crevice in his head.

He assumed that they would attempt to climb Tartarus that night and he didn't want to be caught off guard. Mitsuru informed them at lunch to meet at the dorm for her to tell them something. That confirmed his suspicions and he redoubled his efforts. Yukari's annoyance to Mitsuru was something of a surprise though.

Ikutsuki clapped his hands, drawing the attention of everyone. Minato glanced up from where he was showing Junpei his Compendium.

"Okay, everybody's here. I'd like your undivided attention. For a long time, Mitsuru and Akihiko were the only Persona-users we had. But, that number recently jumped to five. Therefore...Starting tonight at 12:00AM, I'd like to commence the exploration of Tartarus."

"Sorry... I asked this yesterday, but what's this Tartarus thing again?

"Tartarus is the depths of the Underworld. Hell if you'd prefer." Minato supplied.

"...why are we going into hell again?"

"You haven't seen it, Junpei?" Yukari shot back.

"Uh, no."

"Its this big a*s tower that overshadows everything on the island. Really creepy and twisted. Its a Shadow Nest during the Dark Hour." Minato once again helpfully supplied.

"The Dark Hour...? Their nest, huh...?"

"Interesting, huh? And it's the perfect place for us to train!"

A single thought passed through the entire group at that declaration.

_Adrenaline Junkie..._

"But, Senpai... what about your injury?"

The Boxer rotated his arm with a grimace.

"Since Akihiko hasn't fully recovered yet, he'll only come as far as the entrance. _Isn't that right, Akihiko?_" Mitsuru's glare could make a shadow reconsider its career choice.

"...Yeah, I know."

"Well, I'm sure he won't complain, as long as you don't go too far in. Since we're dealing with Shadows, Tartarus isn't something we can avoid."

"Relax, I've got your backs." Junpei enthusiastically fist pumped.

"You better take that seriously." Minato told him with a straight face. "Because I will need your assistance."

"Really?" He looked absolutely over the moon to be of help.

"I'm not so sure about this..." Yukari murmured.

"What about you, Mr. Chairman?" Mitsuru professionally asked.

"I'll stay here. As you know, I can't summon a Persona..."

_Oh Really..._

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"This is is? THIS is the place? Why HERE?"

Minato facepalmed. The school. Really? Really?This sounded like a bad plot device in some high school adventure manga. The kind of stuff that people like Junpei read daily.

"Just wait a few minutes... It's almost midnight."

Minato pulled out his silver pocket watch and clicked it open watching as the all the hands hit twelve. A forbidding gong rang out, resonating through the now green light. The ground began to rumble as the school began to morph and twist. A huge impossibly constructed tower rose higher and higher. An architect's nightmare of insanity and physical impossibility.

As the final gong rang out the building shuddered to a stop.

Mitsuru professionally announced. "This is Tartarus-the labyrinth that reveals itself during the Dark Hour."

"Labyrinth...? What are you talking about!? What happened to our school!?" Junpei freaked.

"Impressive..." Minato breathed.

He moved forward, almost as if he were in a trance. The Magician stopped his confused rant to look at his friend.

"Minato...?"

The Wild Card didn't answer. He raised his gloved hand to rest on the gate. The construct shuddered under his touch and parted. He continued walking towards Tartarus in his trance-like state.

"Wha...?" Mitsuru gaped.

"Its never done that before!" Akihiko yelled.

"Minato!" Junpei called out, rushing after his friend.

The doors opened by themselves to allow Minato to pass through but slammed shut after him. The entire building shuddered as he entered. He stopped in the middle of the Lobby, closing his eyes and tilting his head up. Contrary to what the others believed, he was in full control of himself. He was just entirely focused on the distinct whispers in his ears.

The atmosphere was welcoming, like returning home after a long time away. This tower felt like nothing else he'd ever felt before. He could feel hostile shadows on the floors above but the tower itself meant him no harm.

_**Welcome Shadow of Death**_

_Was that any one of you?_ He asked, even as he knew the answer. The voice was just too ancient and powerful to belong to one of his own.

A chorus of negatives replied.

"Who are you?" Minato called to the empty Lobby.

_**I am the Reaper. The Master of Tartarus. I welcome you to my game.**_

"Game? What game?"

_**That is for you to find out.**_

"Forbidding bastard, aren't you?" Minato smiled. "Fine, I'll just have to find you and make you answer with my fists!"

_**You are welcome to try.**_ The voice was definitely amused by his bravado.

"Damn straight!" He roared, punching his fist into the air.

Then he paused, stared at the raised fist and blinked. He brought the hand down to facepalm.

"Thanatos, could you please stop doing that?"

_**Oh come on, I couldn't resist! Challenging another Death incarnation isn't something that happens often!**_

"I'm going to kill him."

_**I look forward to your challenge, True Thanatos.**_

The the voice went silent.

"Oh Biscuits."

_**Thanatos...**_ Orpheus growled. _**That thing isn't a shadow is it?**_

_**Nope! **_He declared cheerfully.

"Orpheus." Minato deadpanned.

A huge explosion ripped across his head. He winced lightly at the noise but merely sighed.

_What have I said about challenging inhuman entities?_ He scolded in the confines of his head.

_**It's unhealthy? **_

_Close enough._

_**Minato, It is likely that this 'Reaper' is a higher true form, a demon, like Thanatos.**_

_Just great..._ He growled.

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**I apologize for the above rant. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter though! I rather enjoyed write Thanatos being an idiot! ^_^**

**Oh yes, Please go read the beginning of each chapter, I added a small part that explains the terms and technicalities. Like the difference between a Summoner and Wild Card etc.**


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